Inside Job
by Rainpebbles
Summary: Impala Series: Part IX. The crew, not being able to watch Cas suffer anymore from what the Host did to him, come up with a plan to infiltrate a hospital. Only problem is, the hospital is on a Core planet and it's covered in feds. However, not even the risks will stop them from helping their friend. Sabriel and Destiel.
1. Chapter 1

Notes: Sorry about the day late post, life just kinda got in the way XD So this is the re-write of Ariel! So we get to enjoy epic heists and such! Sadly this story took a darker turn than I expected, but I'm going to try and fix that in the end, maybe by adding in a couple extra chapters that have _nothing_ to do with the original script. We shall see! I just need some fun times for the crew. They've got a rough road ahead and I wanna give them some sort of break.

Disclaimer: My very fancy and expensive, Stanford educated lawyers tell me that...I own nothing and that they won't work for me again because I have no money to pay. Very tragic.

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Chapter 1

To say that the last couple of weeks on the ship hadn't been a bit on the rocky side would be an outright offensive lie and Dean would punch anyone who said otherwise. The Captain was on edge to say the least. In the days after his injury, Dean had been so hocked up on painkillers and such that he was in his own blissfully unaware cloud that kept him from seeing the damage that had smeared over his ship. However, when Gabriel had recovered, he had been able to fix up Dean to the point where he only felt a twinge where he was shot and that was when the Captain's eyes were opened.

It wasn't just the fire scorched on the walls, or the mish-mosh in the engine room where Chuck was in the throes of a full examination of the ship, or even the blood stains that Dean had left behind while crawling around with his guts pouring out. It was a whole host of other things.

Sam and Gabriel were in the midst of an "I hate you so much for being so stupid, but I love you so much for what you did, but I still hate you" fight. After the pilot had been okayed by the Sheppard, Sam had dropped the doting nurse-maid façade and started reaming out Gabriel for jumping in and taking the damage like he had. And of course Gabriel was annoyed that in saving Sam's life, all he was getting in return were bitchfaces and a definite lack of hero sex-capades.

Dean was damn close to getting Anna to open up marriage counseling sessions in her zen-zone of a shuttle. It wouldn't be so bad if Dean couldn't tell how badly his little brother was suffering. The explosion and Gabe going down the way he did…it had brought up dark memories for Sam of past sufferings. Gabriel knew this, but no amount of comfort, apologies or words would bring Sam out of his funk. It would just take some time for Sam to absorb all that had happened and move on. Sadly, Gabriel wasn't exactly the most patient person.

Then there was Balthazar. The poor guy had gone through way too much in the last few weeks that everyone was amazed that he hadn't snapped and gone into hysterical fits of giggling or crying. He had doted on both of his brothers while they were recovering from the worst of the injuries, and he had done it all with a content smile. Happy to actually have both of them still alive and breathing.

That's not to say he wasn't still frazzled and frayed around the edges. He still would flinch every time he walked by the infirmary or that time Gabriel lost his footing on the stairs. The pilot had caught himself before he even fell a single step, but Dean could practically hear the other man's heart break out into a loud and panicked rhythm.

But his worst reactions by far were with Castiel. Dean's whole body would still send a shiver down his spine each time he was reminded of what Cas had gone through.

Cas was still recovering, very slowly. According to him, he still didn't even have enough mojo to heal up a paper cut, let alone heal up Dean like he had wanted to do. And the whole crew could see how drained he was just by looking at him.

It was becoming a long and arduous task to get weight back onto his slight frame, mostly because he was sleeping a lot, or he just refused to eat. His hands still shook slightly when Dean saw him fiddling with his coat or moving a chess piece across the board during one of their games, and he was still as white as paper. Dean had finally had enough of Cas' cold hands when the other man had accidentally brushed his freezing fingers over Dean's neck and the shock of temperature made even the Captain shiver. Dean immediately sought out the old box of "winter" clothes and picked out the fuzziest mittens he could find and slapped them onto Cas. Now there was even more frustration with trying to get him to keep them on. Dean was only a hairs breadth away from taping them onto Cas' wrists.

Then there was the horrific realization that Cas' back was still a big problem for him when on that one night that Dean had accidentally fallen asleep in Cas' room, he had been awoken by his roommate moaning and writhing in pain. Massages did little to help anymore besides put Cas' to sleep for a while and with Cas' continuous refusal of drugs, there was little more to do besides that. But everyone could see that it was getting worse.

His behavior was alarming everyone. Of course they understood that he was probably cranky and tired from the drain on his body and the pain in his back, and that the lack of mojo was a constant strain on his mind, but all the easy explanations did nothing to comfort them. Dean had heard whisperings around the ship as to whether Cas' mojo would come back at all. That perhaps it had all been drained away and that's why after three weeks there was little improvement. The Captain had to admit that he had been thinking the same thing, but he wasn't willing to say it out loud just yet.

And as if worrying about Cas wasn't enough, now Dean was catching up on his captain's logs only to see that they had no money left, and they were short on fuel and parts for Chuck, not to mention the low food supply and the need to re-stock the infirmary. They needed a job, and fast, but Dean wasn't sure if his crew was ready yet. In all different ways, they were each recovering from the explosion.

* * *

Chuck had chosen to finally take a break from his tinkering in the engine room to sit in the dining area for a bit before lunch. Upon entering the room he saw that his idea was far from original when he saw all of the rest of the crew had already gathered and were puttering over one thing or another.

Wearily, Chuck sat down across the table from Meg, who was aggressively cleaning several of her guns. Too tired to produce the normal nervous feeling he got when Meg a gun in her hands, the mechanic just slumped at his seat and watched the game of Mah Jong that Anna, Bobby, Sam and Gabriel were playing together.

An odd smell from the kitchen drew his attention and he turned to glance at Balthazar who was stirring something in a pot at the stove. Chuck hoped that whatever was in that wasn't lunch for everyone.

Dean and Cas were over on the couches where the Captain was trying to get a fidgety Castiel to take his turn for the game they were playing. Obviously Cas wasn't in the mood and kept glancing away to stare at the wall or reaching his hands around his back to rub away at the pressure. Dean still seemed to be determined to distract his friend and snapped his fingers sharply and slapped the dice in the other man's gloved hands.

"Boy, what the hell are you cooking?"

Bobby's sudden question snapped everyone's attention to Balthazar as he stood at the stove. The posh man rolled his eyes, "Exactly what you told me to cook. I followed each direction to a T, and with our limited resources, I'm actually somewhat impressed with myself."

"Stew ain't supposed to smell…or look like that," the preacher grumbled and got up from his spot at the table to inspect the meal.

Exasperated, Balthazar tossed the spoon down into the stew causing some drops to fly out and mess up the counter top, "You told me that it would be a little thick, that this way would hold the most colories."

Bobby wrinkled up his nose, "Right. That certainly will fatten him up if those blobs there are fat deposits like I think, and hope, they are."

"Excellent. Cassy dear, I need you to come over here. I've made up a special lunch for you," Balthazar called across the room.

Cas turned his head slightly away from the wall to glance at the stove before sticking out his tongue and turning back. Dean saw this and sighed heavily, "Cas, you need to eat something."

"The sacrifice of the food was admirable, but unnecessary. I am unsatisfied with the offerings and therefore the drought will continue," he stated hotily and finally tossed to dice across the board with perhaps a little more force than necessary.

"Cassy, please…"

"Did you know cows spend approximately 18 hours a day chewing? That sounds very tiring."

"Castiel…," growled Gabriel from the table. His elder brother's tone seemed to be enough to finally get the petulant Cas to get up from the couch and move over to the counter, a snarl upon his face.

Balthazar held up a spoonful of the thick brown goop and Cas stared at it like he could smite it with his gaze.

"I don't want any."

"Cassy, you have to eat. It's good. It tastes like…," hesitantly Balthazar took a taste and immediately schooled his features to hide the horrendous distaste, "…it's good?" He headged.

From over at the table a loud and obnoxious snort came from Meg, "Smells like crotch."

"Meg," scolded Bobby, just as eager to get some sort of food into the young man.

She shrugged, unaffected, "Well, it does."

The crew shook their heads and went back to whatever they were doing while Balthazar continued his quest, this time trying shuttle noises as he moved the spoon up to Cas' lips. Unable to watch the middle Novak's struggling, Dean pulled up a chair at the table next to Sam and Gabriel.

As she lay down her next tile, Anna brought up a new topic, "So Captain. It's that time of year again," she started.

Dean groaned. He knew what she was talking about, "Already? Didn't we do that last year?"

The Companion giggled, "Well that's the funny thing about yearly things…they come every year. So do we know the nearest core planet?"

Sam and Gabriel exchanged pondering looks, "Um, I think Ariel is the closest one. It's maybe two days from here." guessed Sam. This seemed to please the Companion and a few others in the room.

Ariel was a well known core planet. It was often likened to being the ancient "New York City" of Earth that Was to the new universe. It was an entire planet covered in enormous gleaming tall skyscrapers and modern buildings, luscious green parks, and was lead in everything modern, be it science, fashion, medicine, or education.

An idea sparked for Gabriel, "That's great! I haven't been there since I was a teen," eagerly he turned to Sam, "You and me, we can go on a legitimate romantic outing together. I know you'd like that. We don't even have to go someplace fancy. We can just go to one of the parks of something. Feed the pigeons. Climb trees and drop stuff on people who walk by."

Sam didn't look the least bit interested, "Yeah, sure. Feed the pigeons. Then we'd probably get the firing squad for littering."

Gabriel tried again, pulling his seat closer, "Oh, come on. It's not that bad."

Sam turned to face him, his expression completely serious, "It is. It's a core planet. It's got sensors, and where there aren't sensors, there are feds. And are you forgetting that said feds might just be looking for your mug in every corner?"

"I can wear a hat and sunglasses like the celebrities," he turned to Anna, begging the Companion for some help, "Anna, you've been there. Could you please tell Sammy about the fun he's missing out on?"

She smiles and glances over at the younger Winchester, "Ariel's actually quite a nice place. There are some beautiful museums, not to mention some of the finest restaurants in the Core."

Gabriel screwed up his face in distaste, "But…not boring, like she made it sound. There's ah…um…" he looked to the others for help.

Floundering Bobby racked his brain for more, "Uh, there's hiking."

"Yes!" shouted Gabriel enthusiastically.

"And you can go swimming in a bioluminescent lake," added Chuck.

Gabriel continued to nod encouragingly, but Sam wasn't even looking up from the tiles he held in his hands, "I don't care if it's got sunsets twenty-four hours a day. I'm not setting foot on that planet."

"No one is setting foot on that fancy rock. I don't want anyone leaving the ship. Come to think of it, I don't want anyone looking out of the windows or talking loud. We're going there to drop off Anna, and that's it," stated Dean firmly.

Dean watched as his whole crew deflated, but he wasn't about to give in and let them all dash through the streets together holding hands and bumping into each and every fed along the way. There hadn't been any fresh waves in the last couple months of wanted posters for the two younger Novaks, but Dean was far from comfortable letting even peak their heads out of the ramp for some fresh air. Especially when Cas was in such rough shape, and the rest of them were still shaken from their last adventure. Hell, Dean was even concerned that Meg might get snatched up for some charge or another and then Dean would have to bale her out with all the money he didn't have. It was just too damn risky, and Sam knew that too. There was no way that either Winchester was about to let the Novaks out of their sight or off of this boat.

Meg grunted at the news and turned her attention to her favorite knife and set about to cleaning it, starting by licking up the sharp end. Cas watched her actions from across the room, his eyes growing dark.

Chuck had turned his attention to Anna, "So, how long are you going to be planetside?"

She seemed to think it over a moment, "Shouldn't be more than a day or two."

Balthazar has completely lost Cas' attention at this point and has decided to just let his little brother continue to stare at the wall for a bit and joined the others at the table.

Nobody noticed as Cas' dragged his attention away from the panels to stare at Meg.

Dean snorted, "Big stop to renew your license to companion…Can I use companion as a verb?" he joked.

She smirked at the Captain, "It's Guild law. All Companions are required to undergo a physical examination once a year."

Meg hocked loudly and spat on her knife again.

Gabriel glared at her, "Could you not do that while we're…_ever?"_

She glared right back, looking straight into Gabriel's eyes as she spit on the knife once again, getting a very large glob on it. Gabriel stares appalled and then finally looks away.

With nobody paying attention to him, Cas wanders slowly over to the cutlery bin and traces his fingers over the knives in the drawers.

"Two whole days in a hospital? That sucks! And here I thought you had the best job in the world," said Balthazar sounding shocked.

Cas drew out one of the knives.

"It's not so bad as long as the doctor has warm hands. I just hate the gowns that we have to wear. It's a big deal for me to go from wearing silk to basically wearing paper."

"Oh, yeah. And I hate how they open in the back. I mean, I appreciate a good breeze now and then, but usually it's in private company."

"Dude, I just hate the needles. Are you going to be getting any shots? Wait, don't tell me. I don't want to know cause it'll probably give me nightmares."

Cas walked over to the wall that he had been staring at for the last hour and drew the blade over the inside of his arm, drawing up a thick line of blood. He places the knife down on the floor next to him.

"You're such a wus, Chuck. Nothing wrong with needles."

"There is plenty wrong with them! Their too sharp, and the not good kind of shiny, and they hurt!"

Dipping two fingers into the pooled up blood, Cas began to draw.

"I don't even mind the needles that much. Just as long as I have a lovely nurse there. Oh, how I love women dressed in white…"

A soft muttering drifted into Dean's ear over the conversations of the rest of the crew. He figured that Cas was probably upset again or his back was hurting, so the Captain turned to check on him, but instead of seeing Cas staring at the wall where they left him, he was painting on the wall with something that looked sort of black from where he sat.

Dean slowly got up from his seat and walked over, internally praying that whatever substance Cas was using to paint didn't stain walls.

He stopped just behind Cas' shoulder to glance at the growing design, "Um, Cas? What are you painting?"

Cas didn't turn around to answer, just kept painting, "Sigils. To ward off the evil that approaches. This should keep them from coming on the ship."

"You're worried about the feds?"

Cas paused mid-stroke, "There are things worse than the feds." Then he pulled his fingers back when they ran out of paint and dipped them into something Dean couldn't see before continuing. Dean looked closer at the symbol on the wall, noting the odd markings that reminded him of those old Greek letters his dad had shown him once. He moved up closer to inspect one in particular when he caught scent of something coppery, and then he saw how the black markings when spread thinly turn to a dark red, a blood red. That's when he noticed the bloody knife on the floor.

He grabbed Cas' shoulder and spun him around, zoning in on the blood now dripping down Cas' arm and staining the cuff of his sleeve, "What the fuck, Cas!?"

The rest of the crew heard the shout and turned to see a frantic Dean grabbing a towel and slapping it over the wound.

"It's necessary to make it work, Dean. I'm always happy to bleed for the Winchesters."

"You don't _ever_ have to bleed for us!" Dean snarled and grabbed Cas roughly, pushing him towards the infirmary, "Gabriel, Bobby. I'm going to need your help," he shouted back to his confused crew. Then he stormed out dragging the still bleeding Castiel behind him.

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whooo! First chapter done! Review if you like! :)


	2. Chapter 2

Notes: Hello all! Hopefully not all of you were snowed in yesterday! If you were, then please enjoy chapter 2 while you are forced to stay inside!

Leahelisabeth: Good thing number two: you won't have to wait two years for the movie XD

Ship. me: And MOAR you shall have! Enjoy!

Anon: I am so glad to hear that you are liking the story and thank you so much for the review! I will continue to do my best to keep up with the updates. I am having waaaaaay too much fun writing this XD Hearts and Huggles!

Disclaimer: Hey, look! Something I don't own! Just like that thing. Or that other thing...or really anything else!

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CHAPTER 2

To say that he was pissed would be an understatement. Here they were busting balls to keep Cas healthy and get him better, and the guy goes and cuts up his arm like a Christmas turkey and decided to try his hand at interior decoration.

Gabriel wasn't at his best mojo wise from healing Dean not too long ago, but he was able to stop the heavy bleeding enough that all Bobby had to do was wrap a bandage around Cas' forearm. Damn idiot had cut it deep enough to almost reach bone. Dean was practically fuming and all others were giving him and Cas wide berth.

Once Bobby had finished the bandaging, the preacher and Gabriel stepped out of the room, both sensing Dean's urgent need to lay into Cas. Both of them hoped that the Captain would be able to snap the troubled man out of his funk, even if it took a little bit of shouting.

When the others had left, Dean moved forward to inspect the new wrappings. Roughly he pulled Cas' arm forward and jerked it from side to side to check the edges and make sure the bandage would hold up. His rough handling made Castiel frown and try to pull his arm back, "Dean, you are hurting me."

Something in Dean snapped, "No! _You_ are hurting _you!_ What the hell were you thinking cutting yourself up like this? Even if you had your healing mojo you shouldn't do this," he snarled.

"I was trying to protect you!" Cas hissed back.

"Don't try to protect me! Gabriel tired to protect Sam and look where it landed him, where it landed _you_! Damn it, Cas. You almost _died._"

"I am aware of what happened…"

"Are you? I'm sorry, were you there when your heart stopped beating? Oh, wait, no. You weren't because you were dead!"

Finally Cas flinched back and Dean reined in his anger.

The Captain leaned in close so that their noses almost touched and he lowered his voice to a gentle calm, "Cas…I know that you've hit a rough patch. But don't give up yet. Your mojo will come back and everything will be fine."

Cas stared back, his expression making him look so lost, "But when, Dean? How many times do I have to fall before I can fly?"

"I dunno, man. But we'll figure it out. I promise."

Cas sat back sadly, "Until then I'm afraid the sigils will do little to help when it comes to the shadows on the ship. Judas is waiting there."

* * *

After their little chat, Dean had brought Cas back to the dining area to have lunch with the rest of the crew. Meg was still cleaning her weapons at the table and cast a curious glance at the two men as they entered.

"So…everything okay?" Sam asked upon seeing his brother enter.

Dean nodded and moved over to Meg and kicked her feet off of the open chair next to her and gestured for Cas to sit down. He did so, but not without curling his lip at Meg in a silent snarl. Only Dean noticed this, but he didn't say anything about the odd behavior.

"So are we en route to Ariel?"

Gabriel grunted, "Yeah. Be there in 42 hours."

"Good."

An awkward silence fell over the crew as they sat at the table munching at the tasteless food, or is Cas' case glaring interchangeably at the food and Meg.

The gun lover seemed to take notice after a while, "You got something to say, Chuckles? Or are you just undressing me with your eyes."

Cas glared harder.

She smirked back, "Careful there, angel- cakes. You're making me all dewy."

"Meg, enough. Leave him alone," ordered Dean.

"He started it!"

"And I'm finishing it, leave him alone," Dean snapped.

Meg let out a frustrated grunt and put down her knife on the table to start cleaning the next gun in line. Every few seconds she would glance up from her work to see that Castiel had still not ceased in his menacing gaze.

"Hey! You better cut it out or I'll just flag down the first fed I see when we land on Ariel. I bet your brothers would just _love_ to visit the Host where they will…"

She didn't get a chance to finish because faster than her eyes could follow, Cas swiped up the knife from the table and lashed out at her across her chest with it, cutting a long and deep cut through her skin.

"Sonuva….gah!" She howled while clutching at the broken skin and blood soaked into her shirt.

Chuck and Anna jumped up from the table and backed up from where Cas was still holding the knife high in his grip over Meg. The petite fighter jumped up and used the butt of the gun she was cleaning to slam Castiel across the face, making him drop the knife and stumble back into Dean's and Balthazar's arms. Both of them held Cas tightly, making sure that he wouldn't lash out again as he continued to struggle in their grip to get loose.

"Cassy! No!"

"Stop it, Cas. Calm down!"

Meanwhile Sam and Gabriel had run up behind the snarling Meg and amazingly it took both of them to hold the small woman back as she tried to scratch and hiss her way back at Cas.

Dean and Balthazar pull Cas bodily out of the room, practically dragging him by his arms in the hope that Meg might calm down once he was out of sight.

Once those three had left, Bobby had moved over to the still struggling Meg to get a look at the wound, "It's deep. Gonna need some stitches it looks like….stop struggling, you're just going to make it worse."

"I don't fucking care! Just let me slap that little trench coated bitch around some more!"

* * *

This was getting bad. Really bad. Here Dean was standing in front of Cas as the young man sat on his bed, looking completely surprised by all of the fuss and not seeming at all guilty for cutting up one of the crew members.

Balthazar was pacing the room, probably wondering how long they had before Meg got her hands on the long distance wave and called a fed.

"What the hell was that, Cas?!"

"Well, rude for one."

"Why would you do that, Cassy? I know she's not pleasant, but you can't go around hurting others."

Cas shrugged and glowered darkly, staring at the wall again, "She looks better in red."

Dean couldn't take it. It was hard enough watching Cas suffer through pain, exhaustion and worry these last few weeks, no way Dean could sit here and watch him crumble back even further. He left the room, stopping only to tell Balthazar to stay there and to not let Cas out of his sight.

* * *

It was almost like Meg's anger had taken to some sort of sentient form and it punched Dean in the face as soon as he entered the infirmary. It hit him right away and the Captain wanted nothing more than to turn tail and let Meg simmer down, but Dean knew that her threats were never without intent, and he had to handle this before she actually called a fed on them. So he stayed…reluctantly.

There she was seething on the gurney bed, with only her black sports bra on her torso. Dean could see where her knuckles had turned white from gripping the sheets on the bed to tightly. Bobby was stitching up the wound on her chest that hadn't gotten any special healing since Gabriel was still drained from a few minutes earlier with Cas. Needless to say it had been an exciting lunch, even for the Impala crew.

Meg hissed in pain as Bobby tugged one stitch too tightly, "Gorram freak's gone completely off his axel."

Gabriel had chosen to stay in the room and work on disaster control, but Meg seemed to be ignoring his apologies, "I'm really sorry about this. I don't know what…"

Meg snarled at him, "Shut up, I'm not talking to you. I am so _done_ with both of you freaks. You can't even heal me when one of you is the one who did this! What good are you?!", she whirled on Dean, "He's got to go. Both of them…wait, no. All _three_ of them. Ariel's as good a place as any to leave them. We might even pick up a reward for our trouble. I could use it to buy a new fucking shirt!"

"No one's getting left," Dean growled back. Best Meg understood that now before she got any ideas, but she wasn't backing down.

"Hey, he belongs in a nuthouse. We can all see that he's getting worse. I doubt the Host wants a bugged up whatever he is, they'll probably fix him. We give him over, everyone wins."

Gabriel tensed up and turned to Dean, as if looking to see if Dean was falling for this crap. "Dean-O. I know that he's hit a rough patch…a _really_ rough patch, but…don't send him back, please. They might fix his head, but they will screw with the rest of him even more. Please."

"I said, no one's getting left."

Meg slapped away Bobby's hands and moved up to the Captain and scowled in his face, "You don't pitch the Cracker Jack Box off this boat right now, I swear to you…"

"What? What do you swear, Meg?" Dean snapped back.

She flinch in the slightest, "They aren't gone, then you better start locking up your room at night. Next time baby brother gets in a murdering mood, it might be you he comes calling on. Or maybe the preacher here. Or maybe dear little Sammy. How would that make you feel then, Dean? Having your little crazy boy-toy-project rebel and slice Sam's throat in his sleep? Would you still forgive him then?"

Dean balked a little inside at the thought, completely horrified at the suggestion. He had to admit that the thought was plausible, but Meg didn't know Cas like he did. Cas might be ten kinds of screwy, but he knew how important the crew was to Dean, especially Sam. But there was still that little nagging that reminded him that Meg was part of the crew too…

Meg smirked as she saw the inner thoughts run through Dean's eyes. She knew that she had a point and it was better that the Captain saw things her way before the brat actually did cause more damage. The Novaks had done nothing but cause problems since they got on this ship. Plus the reward would be mighty fine. It was time for them to go, she thought.

Dean ended his inner turmoil and leaned in very close to Meg, "Sit down and let Bobby finish. When Gabriel is powered up, he will heal up your little scratch. And I think right now it's more important for you to remember that this is _my_ boat. And they are all part of _my _crew. No one is getting left. You best get used to that." He say in a low and dangerous tone before turning and leaving the infirmary.

Best not give her time to argue anymore, Dean thought as he retreated. He gestured for Gabriel to follow.

* * *

Gabriel stayed a pace behind Dean as they moved away from the infirmary. Dean could see how nervous Meg had made the eldest Novak, and hell, Dean couldn't blame him. They all knew that Meg had a temper of epic proportions and was not above betrayal.

Dean hated what he was about to do, what he was about to toss onto the Novaks, but for now it was the only way to keep Meg from doing something incredibly stupid. He turned to Gabriel when they were out of earshot and met the pilot's sheepish gaze.

"He's going to have to stay confined to his room at all times, no exceptions."

Gabriel nodded unhappily, but he didn't argue.

"When he needs to go to the kitchen, the infirmary, whatever…you ask me first and he will have an escort who can handle him. That means Me, you or Balthazar. No one else. Anna can't babysit for you and he can't hang out in the engine room with Chuck anymore. Dongma?"

"I do."

"And you better keep a damn good eye on him at all times. No more finger painting with blood on the walls. No more cutting himself up. No more cutting others up."

"I understand."

The anguish in Gabriel's voice made Dean pause and mentally slap himself. Of course Gabriel would know how serious this was. Hell, he probably had a better idea than Dean did. Gabriel didn't need his Captain scolding him for his little brother's behavior. Both older Novaks were probably terrified right now.

"Look, Gabe…when I took your brothers in, the deal was that they do their part and you keep Cas in check, but things have changed."

Gabriel flinched at the last part.

"…and by that I mean that your brothers are not probationary crew anymore. They are family on this ship and they won't be going anywhere. So we do this until Meg cools down and then we'll figure something else out."

With a shuttering breath, Gabriel's shoulders relaxed and he smiled softly at Dean, thankful to the Captain in more ways than one.

"You got it, Cap."

"Good."

They both stood there for a moment, Dean looking at the pilot as the pilot stared at the floor, not saying anything. A thousand thoughts were going through both of their minds.

"…He's getting worse isn't he?"

"Yes," Gabriel whispered back, his voice completely hollow.

* * *

So many sad faces! Gah! I wanna write something fluffy and funny D'X


	3. Chapter 3

Notes: Okay, there were some issues yesterday with me posting at 11 am and it not showing up till around 11 pm, so hopefully that wont happen again today! I'll stalk my story stats page to make sure.

andaere: And fluff there shall be! Oh how I love fluff! Especially with peanut butter!

Disclaimer: Dude, if I owned this, do you think I would be posting here? Hells to the no! It would be a running tv show!

CHAPTER 3

* * *

"Oh hey, Anna. You off to your physical?" Chuck asked as he saw the Companion approach.

Anna rolled her eyes in mock despair, "Alas, I must be off. Two days of cold metal tables, breezy paper dresses, and prodding fingers await me. Please think of me fondly in my absence," she sighted whistfully as she walked towards her shuttle.

"Well, maybe there's some sort of bright side. Maybe you'll meet a young, handsome doctor and he'll ask you out or something….Wait…are Companions allowed to date?" Chuck asked scratching his head in confusion and getting the grease from his fingers in his hair.

She laughed, "It's…complicated."

Chuck lowered his voice and his eyes, "The other bright side is that you get a few days away from…all this."

Anna knew exactly what he was talking about. The last few weeks had been hard for everyone, especially for the Novak's and Winchesters, but the whole crew was feeling the oppression. And two days ago, with that whole mess in the dining area, things had quickly gotten worse.

Dean was like a storm cloud in really tight pants as he prowled through his ship, shouting out orders to everyone and losing any and all patience he had before since Cas had been locked up. Obviously the Captain was not at all happy with the way things were. The ship was Dean's whole world. It held his crew, his family, and it was his home. He had almost lost all of that, and now with this added burden...Dean literally had the weight of his world upon his shoulders and he was quickly weakening with the strain. And then the Novaks had told Dean that he couldn't go into Cas' room anymore...well, let's just say that it didn't go over very well.

Balthazar and Gabriel had been moving through the ship like ghosts, trying their best to not draw attention to themselves and avoiding Meg at all costs. They had been spending most of their time in Castiel's room for hours on end, only emerging every once in a while to get food from the kitchen or complete their chores aroudn the ship. They barely spoke to anyone on the ship, instead choosing to dodge others and only seek out each other for company. But every hour that they were not busy, they were all huddled in Castiel's nest. All that could be heard from outside the locked hatch were non-stop murmurs that the crew were all curious about. What were the elder Novaks talking about for so long? They could only hope that everything was alright down there.

The orders were that Castiel could only leave his room with an escort, however, Anna wasn't positive he had left his room at all. Nobody besides his brothers had seen him. It worried Anna constantly that she could not see him. She could only pray that he was still eating something and the constant confinement wasn't causing more damage to his fragile state of mind. How horrible and tragic for the troubled young man to be kept in the prison of the Host, and then freed only to become locked up again. There could be nothing worse than being a prisoner in one's own home.

And then there was Meg. It took everything in Anna's power to not scratch the little bitch's eyes out each time they encountered each other around the ship. The whole crew seemed to hold the same opinion as Anna, but no one was willing to anger Meg more by lashing out and risking the temporary calm. Even when Gabriel had powered up enough to heal up the laceration without even a scar to show, she still had everyone tip-toeing around her. And now the brunette had been gliding through the ship like she had some hold over the rest of the crew, like she owned them and it just served to piss off Dean even more, continuing to power his storm-like attitude.

"Yes…I suppose a few days will center me. I just wish all of us could get a few days off," she laughed lightly to herself, "And maybe all of us should get a full physical as well. Perhaps we might find out what's wrong with Castiel," she joked.

Chuck laughed bitterly, "Yeah, sounds like a great plan. Maybe we should orchestrate a con with Cas posing as a Companion and let him go with you."

They shared a look and then burst out laughing.

"Oh, my. I would pay good money to see Castiel trying to seduce rich and powerful men," Anna said while wiping tears of mirth from her eyes.

"Yeah, that would be quite a sight. Don't think Dean would stand for it though." Chuck could picture the look on Dean's face if he walked in on Anna dressing Cas up in one of her dresses and painting his face with elegant make-up. And then his expression when Cas told him of his new occupation.

He could see it now. _"Hello, Dean. Anna has decided to school me in the art of seduction. Would you like to see? I would very much like to practice with you as I do believe that it involves...talking to people."_

It made Chuck laugh out loud, the first time he had done that for a long time.

"This is true," he chuckled out when he had gotten control of his laughter.

Chuck sighed sadly. Anna was one of the few non-angry in some way people on this ship, and now she was leaving, "Um, well, good luck and we'll see you in a couple days?"

She smiled at him and reached out to squeeze his hand encouragingly, "Of course. Stay out of trouble," she reminded and walked off.

"You, too. Bye." And Chuck walked down the stairs, not at all looking forward to the next two days.

* * *

Sam and Dean were in the hold playing horseshoes. Dean had been kicked out of Cas' room again, after he had tried to sneak in to check on his friend. Sadly Gabriel had snuck up behind him and had "kindly" told Dean no. Then apparently Gabriel had asked Sam to find some way to distract their Captain so that the Novaks could be alone. The odd request had bothered Sam. He had thought that Dean would be helpful in getting Cas better, but for whatever reason, Gabe and Balthazar had locked all three of them up in the nest.

Sam and Dean had both caught each other pressing their ears up against the hatch, trying to make out the mutterings, both incredibly frustrated at being kept out of the loop and being unable to do anything about it. Each time they hoped to catch a phrase or a clue through the thick metal hatch that would let them know that everything was alright, or at least an idea as to what was going on. Really the unknown was killing them both. Sam and Gabriel were already on rocky terms and now all of this secrecy had come about. However, both Winchesters were unable to do anything about it at the moment and had to trust that the older Novaks knew what was best for Cas.

So here they were trying to pass the time by playing an incredibly lack-luster game of horseshoes and both gawking at the fact that this was probably all they would have to do for the next 48 hours while Anna was at her check-up.

Sam tossed a ringer, "whoo," he said dully and moved to the side for Dean to take a throw, "So tell me, how are we going to find a job if we don't leave the ship?"

Dean moved to line up his throw, "It's Garrison territory. There aren't any jobs worth having in my opinion," he replied curtly.

Bobby moved into the hold and sat down on one of the crates wearily, "I never thought I'd say this but…I really don't feel like reading the bible again anytime soon."

Dean smirked over his shoulder, "Moment of despair, Preacher?"

Bobby shook his head, "Moment of blinding boredom. Entertain me before I end up playing poker with that witch again."

"Meg starting to feel caged in as well?" asked Sam. He damn well hoped she felt uncomfortable in any way after all of the trouble that she had caused.

Bobby sent him a pointed look, "You might say that. I'm thinking she's almost to the point of breaking Cas out of his room and sending him killing spree, just so she has something to watch."

"Cas won't go on a killing spree," Dean snapped.

"I know that, boy. Don't mean she doesn't think he will," he scolded.

Finally Dean relented and went back to his toss. He knew the preacher was right and Meg still held power over them all with the idle threat towards the Novaks. Dean would have to find a way to fix that soon.

"Pick up a shoe, Preacher," Dean offered as a peace offering, and Bobby quickly accepted.

His thoughts running too fast to leave space for coordination, Dean's toss missed, "Ah, Damn."

"You know, my pop always said, 'anyone who can't find work ain't looking hard enough.'," Bobby moved up and positioned himself for his toss, "Now I didn't much like him, but the sayin' holds true. And you two ain't even looking at all."

"As I said before, Garrison. I'm not risking anything right now. No way I'm letting Meg anywhere near the Garrison while she holds the delusion of power," Dean said, watching Bobby's pitch fly through the air and land squarely wrapped around the stake.

Begrudgingly, Bobby had to agree, "Do either of you boys have any clue as to what those boys are talking about down in the nest? I have to admit, I'm close to dying of curiosity."

"Not a fucking clue," muttered Sam and he took his place to toss his last shoe, his frustration evident in his throw as well as his voice.

"Maybe they're having an extended slumber party, painting each other's nails and practicing kissing."

Meg strolled into sight from the doorway of the hold and sauntered up to the others. All three of them tensed up in momentary panic, wondering how long she had been in hearing range, but she wasn't showing any signs of hearing anything else, so they relaxed and decided to play it natural.

Sam scowled at her, "I'm sure that they are just talking things through with Cas. Therapeutic sessions, perhaps?"

They better damn well be therapeutic sessions, thought Dean darkly. He had been forcing himself to not tear into the hatch by force since he had been kicked out by Gabriel and Balthazar, but his initial resolve to let them do as they thought best was starting crumble. For all he knew Cas was still not eating, had fallen ill, was slowly falling into deeper madness…

"Dean?"

"What?"

"…It's your turn."

"Oh," Dean tossed again, and saying he missed was an understatement. It flung across the room and clanged against one of the crates, making the others in the room flinch.

"So when's our next job? I saw a new model gun I want in a magazine. I need our next payment so I can get one," Meg said impatiently.

"Well, whenever Balthazar finally emerges from his cage, I'll ask him if he has a contact for us somewhere," Dean bit out.

"You don't have to wait. I already have a client lined up."

The sudden appearance of Balthazar's voice had then all turning to see Gabriel and Balthazar both standing at the doorway.

Gabriel spoke up next, "We have a job for you." He stated.

Everyone tensed.


	4. Chapter 4

Notes: Explanation time! Plot and plot and some more plot for ya! Pay attention though cause there are a few little tid bits that might become relevant later in the series! *sneaky grin*

leahelisabeth: Then let us linger not! Next chapter posted without delay XD I do hope that the next story meets everyone's expectations! There are quite a few of you that are really looking forward to it :O

Anon: (just in case you didnt catch my message on chapter 2) I am so glad to hear that you are liking the story and thank you so much for the review! I will continue to do my best to keep up with the updates. I am having waaaaaay too much fun writing this XD Hearts and Huggles!

Disclaimer: * maniacal laughter* ...ten seconds later...*gross sobbing*

* * *

CHAPTER 4

The crew all moved into the dining area and gathered around the table to hear what the elder Novaks had to say. Everyone was intrigued and it showed on each face, even Meg's. Dean planted himself in the seat across from the two brothers and folded his hands in front of him, ready to listen. They better be about to explain to Dean why he had been kept away from Cas for two days, or at least give him an update on his friends condition.

"Um, where's Cas at?" asked Sam casually, glancing Meg's and then Dean's way.

"He's still in his room, totally passed out. He was up all night with…well…let's just say it was a long night for all of us," sighed Balthazar wearily.

Deciding to not go into what that meant exactly, Dean pushed on warily, "So, you've got a job for us?"

Both brothers nodded, "One that will pay for itself ten times over," informed Balthazar seriously. Neither brother had any hint of a smile on their faces. They were completely all business right now and it made everyone sit up straighter in their seats.

Gabriel reached down in his pocket and pulled out four vials, two of which Dean had seen on random occasions in the infirmary. The other two were unknown to him. The oldest Novak held out the first vial for everyone to see, "Do any of you know what this is?" he asked.

Bobby huffed from his spot to Dean's left, "It's a common immune booster called isoprovaline," he recited. It was a common enough drug that Bobby had seen plenty of times while working as a medic.

Balthazar nodded and took the vial from his brother before passing it to Chuck to hand around the table, "Correct. But were any of you aware that the street value for a dosage this size is somewhere around fifty platinum?"

Sam let out a low whistle and Dean raised an eyebrow, "Not bad."

Gabriel held up the second vial, "This one, propoxine, is probably twenty credits." He passed it to the rest of the crew to look at and then pulled out the third vial and handed it to Bobby to pass around the crew, " Maybe eighty credits for the contents of this one. It's one of the strongest pain killers out there."

The listing of the prices made Dean balk internally. He had this much cash sitting around in his infirmary all this time? The captain could see many of the others around the room mirror his internal thoughts on their faces. He even noticed Meg try to slip one of the more expensive vials into her pocket, but Balthazar moved up to retrieve it before it could disappear never to be seen again.

"And this last one, hydrozepam, two hundred. And all of this from what is floating around the infirmary and what Balthazar stole on his way out of the Host," he said while moving back to the front of the table after retrieving all the vials.

That surprised Dean, "You stole drugs from the Host?"

Balthazar shrugged, "When I found Cassy, he was half drugged out of reality. I didn't know what they had him on, and I wasn't sure if when I took him away that there wouldn't be any side effects…like withdrawal. So I took every vial and pill I saw on our dash out, hoping that they wouldn't be necessary."

Sam looked up at them seriously, "Have you given him any of these drugs since you got on the ship?"

Balthazar sighed heavily, "We didn't. At first. We thought…hoped that he was getting better and he never showed any normal signs of withdrawal."

"Normal signs? You mean that you think he might be showing abnormal signs?" Asked Chuck.

Meg sent the mechanic a withering look, "Have you even _met_ the little freak?"

"Wait, are you thinking that his back pain is a withdrawal symptom?" Asked Bobby confused.

The brothers shrugged, "It's a possibility. We all know that Cassy get's affected by drugs different from the rest of us. Who's to say that it isn't? It might explain why Gabriel can't heal him. From what we gather, their ability only effects specific types of injury or ailment," said Balthazar.

"What does that mean? Are you talking about being unable to bring dead people back to life?" Dean hedged, wanting to learn as much about Cas as possible if he could maybe help.

Gabriel shook his head, "No, not death. Hell, Cassy has been telling me in riddles that there might just be some like him out there that could bring someone back, but that's not what we're talking about. We mean that Castiel and I have only been able to heal the body itself. Anything foreign, like a virus, and illness or bug, anything not actually part of the body cannot be fixed by us. That's why we have to take the bullet out to heal someone."

"So you mean that if there is still some sort of drug or…something else floating around in Cas' body, he can't fix it and it could be causing his all this pain," Sam clarified. Both brothers nodded.

It sort of made sense, thought Dean. Cas always talked about a glow being the source of his mojo. If this whole crazy healing shit was just some intense energy transfer or the source of human energy, then it would make sense that Cas and Gabe could only heal the human bits. If they were to try healing anything else, there would have to be some kind of energy conversion to match up. Its not like they had some special router implanted in them so link up with everything organic or inorganic.

"Well, that's just great. Tiger's got a thorn in his paw and doesn't have the thumbs to take it out himself so we have to deal with him lashing out," snorted Meg, but something else the brothers mentioned was bothering Dean.

"What do you mean by 'at first'? Have you given him something recently?" Dean said, cutting Meg off. Since the whole Bela incident, Cas was still firmly against taking drugs. Dean could only imagine what it took to get Cas to take them again.

Gabriel sighed heavily, "After the accident a few days ago, Balth and I decided to take a closer look at the drugs that he had picked up on his way out of the Host. A few of them were familiar to me from my own experience, while others were not. We were able to pry out from Castiel what he remembers taking, and so far he's named all the ones from Balth's bag and then he told us of a few that were given to him in unlabeled vials."

"Cassy was really struggling, so we gave him some of the ones we knew were safe. A low impact pain killer, super strength muscle relaxers…"

"And?" demanded Dean.

"And nothing. Well, his back stopped aching for a little bit, but it's not like it cured him or anything. In fact it only lasted a little under an hour. His system massacred it before he could really enjoy the respite," Balthazar said, disappointment in his voice.

"I'm not sure I see where you're going with this. What do these drugs and Cas have to do with a job?" asked Dean finally.

"Well it got us thinking, we know nothing about what was in those mystery vials they had given to Castiel, and we have no idea why the normal drugs we gave him worked, even if only for a little while. Hell, we don't even know what else they might have done to him without drugs involved. I heard whispers before I left about "modifications". Maybe Castiel was victim to that. All of these thoughts lead us to the idea of seeing for ourselves what had been done to him," started Gabriel.

Balthazar picked up, "That's when we got to thinking about the Hospitals on Ariel. All of them top of the notch and housing the most expensive and highest quantities of drugs within their little medical cabinets. So our proposal is for all of us to break into a hospital, we have one in particular in mind, and steal as many drugs as possible. Whatever the take is, it's bloody more than enough payment for what we have in mind."

Bobby looked up curious, "So the medvault isn't the entire job?"

"Nope! That's just the payment and incentive to get you guys in on this. We tell you how to get in, get out, and we'll tell you what's worth taking…This is all if you help us get Castiel into the hospital's diagnostic ward."

Dean leaned back and let out a low breath, "That's quite the job. Damn risky too. Do you really think that a simple hospital's diagnostic ward will help you figure out what they did to Cas?"

Balthazar nodded, "We do. I know for a fact that this hospital has a 3-D neuroimager because I remember our father's company donating money for the hospital to buy it in the first place. The dinner party was quite splendid."

"So you think this scanner will show you what's going on? How the hell are you going to work it? Or even understand what you're seeing? Last I checked, Doctor, wasn't a title in either of your names," Bobby grunted.

"Well, that's where you come in, we hope. Your medical training teach you anything about how to work it?" Gabriel asked hopefully.

Bobby sighed and rubbed that back of his head, "I suppose I've got an inkling, but I'll start up on some research and make a step by step procedure for you to follow. I can't tell you how to read the results, but you bring them to me and I can probably work some diagnosis out."

"So we get you and your brother into the whatchathing and you tell us how to clean out the hospital," Meg clarified.

"Yes," answered both brothers simultaneously.

"Um, not to be negative or nothing, but, don't the hospitals need that medicine?" asked Chuck timidly, his hand awkwardly raised.

"It's a government run facility. They'd be restocked in a matter of hours," Sam said thoughtfully. Dean could see a small smile forming on his little brother's lips as the plan started to uncoil in their heads. Sam always loved a challenge and so did Dean.

"He's right. They'll never miss it," Gabriel said while looking at Sam proudly.

"Plus, people on the rim could sure use it. We know just how stingy Garrison is with their expensive drugs," Sam commented thinking of those people from their train heist.

That's when Dean ripped himself away from this growing fantasy, "Yes, this is all very sweet, stealing from the rich and selling to the poor, but we are talking about breaking into a highly secure Garrison facility in a fed infected city. How the hell do you plan on getting around security when our key players, namely you and your brothers, have big red letter wanted signs on your backs?"

Both Novak's flinched, "It's not going to be easy, but it can be done," said Gabriel.

"Oh?"

"Dean-Bean. Are you forgetting that not only did I break out of the Host, all by my lonesome, but that Balthazar here also broke _in_ to the Host and then broke out again with one of their most prized possessions? We know how to get around feds and we know how to break into high tech facilities," Gabriel said as he leaned forward on the table, his eyes meeting Dean's.

They stared at each other for a moment, waiting for the other to give in first. Dean was the first to blink, "Fine. Go ahead and tell us the plan, but if I don't like it or I think it's too risky, then the heist is off. No arguments."

Both Novaks tried to stifle their twin smiles, but failed miserably.

"As we said before, this can be done. You see, like all Core hospitals, St. Lucy's has its own dedicated security force…"

* * *

Bwah ha ha! And so begins the real plot! Oh how I love a heist! XD


	5. Chapter 5

Notes: Plot plot plot plot plot...

leahelisabeth: dude...that would be so sick...If only I had enough time to do a CSI/CriminalMinds/Bones/WhiteCollar type crossover AU. Just something with the boys in a law enforcement setting...

Disclaimer: To own or not to own...my lawyers tell me I do not own it, so there is no question there...

* * *

CHAPTER 5

For once Balthazar was glad that he had been groomed his whole life for the business world, because he presentation skills were now coming in handy as he laid out the schematics for the rest of the crew to check out. He had to sell this for all it was worth if he was going to get Dean to agree to this. It was damn risky, but damn necessary as well. Balthazar would push this to the ends of the 'verse if it meant saving his little brother.

At least the Captain hadn't shot it down immediately, as Gabriel was almost sure that he would. As it was, Dean was actually leaned forward on the table to get a closer look at the charts and maps and making helpful comments instead of picking apart the plan and trashing it. Perhaps the Captain was just as eager as them to get a chance to help get Cas better. Oh, who was he kidding. Of course Dean was desperate to see Cassy better.

Gabriel was busy pointing out certain red marks on the maps that Castiel had drawn in where he thought feds would be stationed, "A small battery of local Garrison feds are substationed here," he taped lightly on the green dots, "Now every floor, every doorway is equipped with sensors, and at all points of entry…there are patient identity scans," he glanced up at the crew to gauge their reactions.

Nobody flinched, yet.

He cleared his throat and continued, "However, once we are clear of those checkpoints, movement within the facility itself should be relatively unhindered. Now the standard layout should put the medvault somewhere…"

"Um…question?"

"Yes, Dean?"

Dean leaned back again with a concerned look on his face, "Okay, let's hold up a second and go back to the ident scans. Now I'm pretty sure that you and your brothers are tagged as fugitive. How do you figure we're going to get you in the building? I mean, I'm all for helping Cas, but I'm not all to keen on helping him on his merry way back to the Host."

Balthazar smirked, "We only plan on Gabe and Cas going in. And they will go right through the front door."

Meg scoffs from the background and Sam leans forward with his own look of concern, "Gabe, I'm not so sure I want you to be the one going in…"

Gabriel shakes his head and stops Sam by holding up his hand, "Believe me Sammy-doodle, I'm going to have to be there with Cas to keep him in line. And as for getting the two of us in, that is going to be the easy part. Now getting the rest of you in…that is going to be the real trick," he glanced around the table meaningfully.

Balthazar stepped forward, "We'll need to procure a few items off ship. I've already made a list. Now, given my own status as a fugitive, someone else will have to…"

Meg, Bobby, and Chuck all raised their hands eagerly, each grinning in excitement over the plan. Sam casts a worried glance over at Dean who returns it. Both brothers might not love it, but they needed the money, and they both wanted to help the Novaks.

Sam and Dean looked to Balthazar and Gabriel and nodded, raising both of their hands as well.

They could see some of the tension leak out from their shoulders at seeing the crew all on board with the plan. Balthazar smiled and clapped his hands together, "Excellent. We have some volunteers. Now, before we ever make it to the front door, we're going to have to breach the perimeter. Only official vehicles are allowed in, so…we'll need one."

Gabriel winks at Chuck.

"Now, obviously we can't steal what we need. Any illegal activity in the planning stages could end this thing before it even starts. St. Lucy's Hospital contracts with the local municipal dumpyard for all its large disposals…"he says while still looking at the mechanic.

"Big hospitals mean big waste, so we shouldn't have any trouble finding what we're looking for."

Chuck gulped.

* * *

Chuck kicked his way through various rusty old metal parts in the junkyard on Ariel. It seemed that in the world-wide city, junkyards were the only place that wasn't teeming with people, feds, or cameras.

He kicked an old engine cap roughly across the dusty ground and groaned dissatisfied, "Figures. First time I get on a Core planet, and what do I get to do? Look through trash! Couldn't they have sent me shopping at the Triplex, or…"

He notices something beside his foot and shouts out happily to Sam who was also digging around near him, "Ooh! Synchronizers! I've been trying to get some new ones!"

Sam briefly looks up at him and offers a small nod before standing up straight to stretch out the cramps in his back, "That's great, Chuck. I'm very happy for you."

The plan was sound. There was no arguing it and that was killing Sam. The last thing that the younger Winchester wanted right now was to let Gabriel back out into danger right after the accident on the ship, but Sam already knew that no matter what he argued, Gabriel's mind was made up to go and do this for Cas.

Frustrated, Sam picked up a random piece of piping and threw it as hard as possible into the distance. That's when he heard a strange clunk where the piece hit something. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that it had hit a small ship…exactly the ship that they needed.

Chuck noticed his discovery and shrugged, smiling at their luck.

Sam scowled. Yeah, right. Luck.

* * *

"Now our other challenge that we have to push through, is looking like we belong."

Dean looked down at himself and at the rest of the crew, "You saying that we don't look like the civilized folks of Ariel?" He asked sarcastically.

Gabriel smirked back, "I'm sure you would do fine among the street mongers, however, I do think that some disguises might just be in order…"

"And all we have to do is slip a couple of bills into the right hands," finished Balthazar.

* * *

She was practically skipping her way down one of the less crowded streets of Ariel, and Meg was not above smiling a bit to be let off the ship for a while, even if she was technically on the job.

Up ahead she spotted to meeting point and righted the duffel bag on her shoulder. Once at the corner of the block, she bent down to "tie her shoe" which was kind of hard considering she was wearing leather slip on boots, but the street cameras wouldn't be able to pick that up.

While leaning down she let the strap of the bag slip from her shoulder. Up from behind she heard approaching footsteps and subtly she pushed the bag enough away from herself for the enclosing man to quickly exchange it with an identical bag of his own.

Exchange complete she grabs up the new bag and heads back to the ship, and maybe she might have made a stop or two on her way back…

* * *

"_You better start talking skank. Tell me why I'm not just hauling you off to the Garrison's prison cells."_

"I've told you why. I've got something far more valuable than my own head. I know how much your superiors love presents."

"_They do indeed love presents. And I'm pretty sure you're enough of a thorn in their sides to make the happiest Christmas present ever. Hell, you're small enough I can probably fit you in a stocking."_

"Even I know that you won't get any promotion out of my arrest, but I do have something that will. I've got some fugitives that you've been searching for. I've got the Novaks."

* * *

"So that will get us the uniforms, ID badges and keycards once Meg makes the exchange. With a little creative forgery, we've got ourselves a working alias."

Sam looked skeptical, "When did you become master of forgery?"

Gabriel smiled warmly, "Never. I just happen to know that you and your brother have that particular skill set down to an art."

The Winchester brothers glanced at each other. They couldn't argue with that.

"Great! I've got some great alias names I've been waiting to use," Dean smiled eagerly.

Sam rolled his eyes, "Dean, I swear to God. If you put "bikini inspector" on my badge again…"

Clearing his throat, Balthazar spoke up next and got them back on track, "Now, all of these items are easy to obtain. They'll get us up _to_ the door. Now, in order to get us in… we have to realize that we _are_ going to a hospital environment and we have to have that whole medical arrogance swagger."

Dean's eyes lit up with excitement and awe, "Wait…I can do that! I've watched like every episode of Dr. Sexy. I can _totally_ pull off the attitude! I even have a pair of boo…" Dean saw everyone staring at him awkwardly, "Hey, it's a good show and Cas and I got bored during the recovery last week…" he defended, blush rising on his neck.

Balthazar stared for a moment before getting back on track, "Well then, we'll be sure to watch an episode or two for references, but Gabe and I had another source of medical lingo we'd like to peruse," he turned to Bobby.

"What say you, Preacher? Feel like opening a medical school on the Impala?"

Suddenly a bit shy at the attention, Bobby shrank back a little before he came back to his senses and thought it over. He scratched at his bearded chin, "I think I might be able to whip up a lesson or two. But I don't think that any amount of teachings in the next day will be enough to send you lot out to save lives," he said with humor.

* * *

Two hours…..two mind numbing hours in the infirmary and Dean's brain was so fried that he swore they could sell it as deep fried chicken and no one would notice. He was about to start drooling when Bobby pointed at him again.

Quickly Dean sat up at attention and tried again, "The patients were cynical and….not responding, and uh…..yeah, we couldn't bring 'em back. Dead as doornails…"

Bobby cringed, "That patients were _cyanotic_…" he tried as if talking to a particularly slow individual.

"Shit, yeah, they were _cyanotic_ and not responding…"Dean repeated agitatedly.

Bobby shook his head again, "Not responsive boy!"

"I am responding!..._ouch!_"

The preacher pulled back his hand where he had slapped Dean upside the head, "No, the patient was not responsive. The way you said it sounds like you're waiting for him to sit up and talk about his feelings."

"Fine! _Responsive!"_ Dean scowled.

"And….?"

Dean floundered and looked to Meg who shrugged, "Uh…we were unable to res…res…"

"Resuscitate them," Balthazar finished.

Bobby nodded to the middle Novak who sent Dean a smug look. Meg just sat off to the side playing with a piece of equipment on one of the counters. Next up was their posh crew member who Bobby turned to and waited for Balthazar to parrot the next bit. Dean took the time to go over his lines in his head. No way he was going to let Dr. Sexy down.

"Balthazar, what methods did you use?"

"We tried pulmonary stimulators and…and cardiac…uh"

"Infusers."

"Gah! Right! We tried pulmonary stimulators and cardiac _infusers_." Dean sent Balthazar a smug look of his own.

Bobby turned to Meg, "And what about the cortical electrodes…?"

Awkwardly she placed the tools down where she was still fiddling and quickly tried to catch up with the rest of the class. Dean was sure she was a second away from asking Bobby to repeat the question.

"Cortical electrodes…," Bobby promted.

Meg snapped her fingers, "Yeah, those! We, uh…we forgot 'em."

The sigh that came from Bobby was enough for even Meg to feel slightly sheepish, "Let's try that again," he said. They all agreed that it was definitely necessary.

* * *

Meanwhile, Gabriel, Sam and Chuck were hard at work in the hold welding and working new circuits boards into their newly acquired ship. Gabriel often found his mind drifting back to Castiel, where he was being was hopefully still asleep while the rest of the crew was preparing for the heist. He would have to leave soon to check on him if Balthazar didn't finish up in the infirmary.

The past few nights having Cas locked up had been incredibly rough and Gabriel knew one of the reasons why. Now he wasn't about to say that keeping Cas in his room was unnecessary, because it was damn necessary to make sure that Meg was appeased for the moment. However, being kept in a small room, locked up and having his brothers trying out drugs on him…Gabriel knew that it was like simulating the Host in their own home. It was torture.

With an angry growl, Gabriel went back to welding with a renewed vigor. They would finish this heist. They _would_ find out what was wrong with Cas, and then Cas would be allowed out again. It _would _be as simple as that.

Gabriel grinded his teeth behind the mask.

* * *

"Pupils were fixed and dilapidated…"

Off of Bobby's scowl, Dean corrected himself, "_Dilated! Dialated! _Ching-wah tsao duh liou mahng!"(Frog-riding bastard) Who knew memorizing medical speak would be so ruttin' hard. The Captain's respect for the actor of Dr. Sexy was now even higher than before.

Bobby should get a sainthood for his patience for the last three and a half hours. He had been standing over the three of them, pacing, gesticulating, coaching, yelling, sighing, giving long looks of suffering…well, it was pretty tough on all of them.

Dean took a steadying breath and started over, "We got there and the patients were cyanotic," he paused and waited for Bobby to correct him, but the preacher nodded for him to continue, "They were not responding…Non responsive…And we tried to reviv…resuscitate them…and despite our best efforts…..ah, they kicked…" Dean cringed at the last bit and Bobby growled.

"Crap. Uh, despite our best efforts…"

Bobby left Dean to wrack his brain and turned to Balthazar who sat up like a student caught sleeping in class, "We tried pulmonary stimulators and cardiac infusers." He recited and then air pumped with his fist when the Sheppard nodded and moved on to Meg.

…Who was currently trying to write her lines down on her arm…Bobby cleared his throat, "And what about them cortical electrodes…?"

Startled for the tenth time that hour she popped her head up and quickly pulled down her sleeve, "We applied, we applied the cortical electrodes We used those, uh, electromagnetic…reacted from…we applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either…unable to get a neural…" She stopped and pounded the table with a frustrated growl.

"Response," finished Dean. It was getting to the point where he would memorize Meg's lines before his own, he thought grimly.

"_Response…._Hell, I don't know! If I had wanted medical schooling I would have gone to school and I wouldn't have majored in killing people!"

Off to the side Balthazar leans forward in his chair and holds his hands cupped in front of his face as if praying. He might just be doing just that, thought Dean only half amused.

"Why is she the one going along?" asked Dean upset, "I think that I would be a better choice for breaking into the diagnostic ward."

Balthazar sighed, "Because she is far more efficient in stealthy matters than you. She will also blend better. I hate to say it, but you do draw attention to yourself."

"Well…whatever. Let's just get this down pat."

* * *

And for tomorrow's chapter we have the start of the heist and some last minute angst! Woot woot!


	6. Chapter 6

Notes: Holy shiznits this story is taking a lot longer to write that I initially planned. I'm already on chapter 12 and I have at least two more chapters planned XP sigh... I just wanna get started on the War stories re-write D'X

leahelisabeth: OMG! Good luck on that story! :D And I totally get what you mean about University. I have three exams coming up in the next week as well as a presentation, and on top of all that I've got research for my professor. I am sooooo behind on my chapters XP Good luck with your class stuff! Hearts!

ship. me: No power?! How did you even live!? And oooooo! You have an idea about Cas! That makes me super excited! Well you'll be able to get a lot more hints by the end of this story! Good luck with your ponderings! Hearts and Huggles and welcome back to the modern age of electricity! :D

Disclaimer: Nothing doing here...

* * *

CHAPTER 6

It had taken a whole day of endless gritty tasks, but Gabriel was starting to see everything coming together. He, Chuck and Sam had finally put the finishing touches on the new ship, a nice coat of paint to make it look brand spanking new and ready to pose as a real medship. It looked damn convincing if he didn't say so himself.

When news of the finished ship spread around the ship, everyone had meandered their ways into the hold to see the finished product. Dean, Sam, Meg and Balthazar came from one of the side entrances dressed in their new EMT uniforms, and they did look convincing standing next to the red and white shuttle.

Bobby grinned at all of them, "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were ready to say some lives," he joked good naturedly and elbowed Dean in the side.

Dean started to adjust his collar, primping himself, "Damn straight! Now all we need is a couple of patients."

Everyone turned expectantly to the Novaks who had, up to this point, not shared much detail about this part. Both of them shuffled their feet and glanced at each other nervously. They had been hoping to hold this off as long as possible to avoid Dean's veto of the plan. Balthazar scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "Uh, well, corpses, actually."

The room fell silent.

"You see…for this to work, Cassy-baby and I will have to be dead," Gabriel winced as he said this and glanced Sam's way to see his anger start up, not to mention Dean's own horrified surprise.

"Huh, I'm starting to like this plan," laughed Meg.

The pilot stepped back as both Winchesters moved in on them, "What do you mean you have to be dead? You mean that you're playing dead, right? Right?!" Dean shouted. Sam was right there with him, arms crossed and glaring at Gabriel.

"Actually….sort of, kinda, no?"

* * *

Everything had been set-up. The plan had been picked apart minute by minute until everyone knew each step by heart and knew all the respective alphabetical plans that would follow should the original plan A go to shit.

It was Gabriel's little, "let's play dead", part that had Dean on edge and Sam practically steaming out his ears, "You sure about this thing? Have you ever tried this drug before?" Sam had been asking questions…well, more like demanding explanations, for what the Novak had planned. He had run to catch up with Gabriel as the pilot went to retrieve the syringes from the infirmary.

"Sammy, I'll say it again. It's perfectly safe. Bobby and I worked out the dosage. We even worked out a special dosage for Cassy-poo. Everything will be fine, I promise."Gabriel turned to face Sam when he said this, hoping to convince Sam that he _was _going to come home after this.

"Gabe, I…You only just got better. And now you're going out and risking getting caught or worse…"

Gabriel frowned, "Listen. There is _nothing_ worse than getting caught. And I know the risks. Are you going to stand there and scold me for doing this when you damn well know that if it were Dean you would be doing the exact same thing?"

Sam gaped, "I guess I get that, but…it could have been one of us going in there with Cas instead. I know that Dean and I stand out a bit, but we have done many heists before and it wasn't a problem."

"I know that. But if this does turn south…I _will_ be with Cassy, even if it means getting caught. I won't let him get sent back alone. And they won't hesitate to nab you too. That's why we want Meg with us and not you and Dean, or even Balthazar. Cassy and I both decided that we weren't about to risk either of you to that. So that is why _you_ are flying the medship, and Dean is getting the goods with Balthazar. Please…please understand that this is how it has to be."

They met eyes for a moment before Sam finally looked away, "Fine. You do what you have to do to help Cas, and I'll back you up, just…you better come back."

* * *

Dean insisted on being in the room while Bobby administered the drug to Cas and Gabriel. And as it turns out, Sam and Balthazar had the same thought, and when Dean entered to find the room pretty crowded, it took him a moment to finally spot Cas.

He hadn't seen him for about three days now, the longest he had ever gone since Cas had first arrived on the Impala, and Dean had to admit that it had been rough without him. It also looked like the few days of confinement had been even more rough on Cas. There were dark marks under his eyes that surprised and concerned him, because Dean had been told that Cas had been sleeping most of the time. There was also a bruise on his cheek and a slowly healing split lip from where Meg had hit him days before. Still no self-healing mojo then…

He watched as Bobby and the older Novaks knelt in front of Cas before giving him the shot. Dean turned to Sam, "This is going to be emotionally scarring, isn't it?" Sam rolled his shoulders in agitation, and didn't take his eyes off the proceedings.

Gabriel was the one chosen to talk to Cas. According to them, Cas had been informed of this part of the plan, well, all of the plan really, even before the rest of the crew and had agreed. However, they were all wary of his reaction when the time really came. It was one thing to agree, it was a whole other animal to go through with it.

"Okay, Castiel. We're going to be asleep for a while. Dean and the others will have to pretend we're dead to sneak us into the hospital, but once we're inside, we'll wake up. Everything will be fine. Do you understand?"he asked, making sure to catch his little brother's eyes.

In a dead and even more gravelly voice than usual, he answered, "You're going to suspend cerebral cardiac, and pulmonary activity in order to induce a proto-comatose state."

Gabriel nodded, relieved, "That's right," but his relief and the relief from the rest of the crew dissipated in a second when Cas' face suddenly crumpled.

"I don't want to do it. I don't want to go back to that place. I don't want to die," he whispered.

Dean moved forward, unable to hold back, and grabbed Cas' chin in his hand, "No. No one is going to die. I will take care of you. We _all_ will take care of you while you two are sleeping, and when you get back…"

Cas started to moan and shake his head. Dean loosened his grip and instead moved his face up to Cas' until their noses were almost touching and they could feel the other's hot breath on their skin.

"Hey, hey. It's going to be okay. This…this could be what we've been hoping for. When this is over, we might be able to help you. We can maybe make the pain go away, "he lowered his voice to a whisper, "we can maybe make the monsters go away. Okay?"

Cas nodded, bumping their foreheads together gently, "Okay," he breathed out brokenly, "I'll go with you."

Dean finally pulled back and motioned for Bobby to go ahead with the shot. As the preacher prepared the syringe, Dean never broke his eye contact with Cas, trying his hardest to look strong, like watching his best friend "die" wasn't one of the most painful things a person could ever see. He knew that Cas was afraid of many things right now. One of the biggest being put in a coma like this. It was just too similar to what had happened only a few weeks ago. Cas had _actually_ died then, and that would shake anyone, but here they were asking him to do it again.

And of course he was also terrified of getting caught. Cas might be a little screwy, but he was _not _stupid. He knew the danger that they were all heading into and obviously he would be scared of the thought of going back to the Host. Hell, Dean was terrified for him, Sam too. It was not a situation that the Captain was all too keen on being in, but if it could help, it was worth the chance.

Cas didn't even flinch when the needle drove home and the drug was administered. He just started to blink heavily and his head started to bob. Gabriel helped him lat back on the bed, and Cas was out before he even hit the pillow. Then it was the pilot's turn.

Less than two minutes later there lay two "dead to the world" patients on the beds in the room. Sam and Balthazar shifted uncomfortably next to Dean, obviously as unhappy with the sight as Dean. All of them had seen this same scene before not too long ago, and it never got any less horrifying, even with the knowledge that they would be fine in a few hours.

Dean turns to Balthazar and looks hard at him, "This is your last chance. Are you really ready to do this? Cause right now, you're not just poking the sleeping bear, you're sticking a cattle prod right up its ass," Dean warned and gestured to the two supine forms on the beds.

Balthazar straightened his posture and met Dean's eyes straight on, "I'm sure." And he moved to help Bobby get the two ready for transport.

It was time to go.

* * *

All the preparations had been made and everyone was in place. Dean placed himself up in the front of the ship beside Sam, both doing their best to not look behind them at the two body bags on the stretchers. Sam was keeping himself busy by going over the control panel and warming up the turbines for launch. Dean kept himself busy by watching Sam.

"All right, you are all set to go whenever you're ready," Bobby shouted over the engines. Dean nodded out the window at the preacher and flipped on his headphone radio to talk to his crew once more before they left.

Sam's, Meg's and Balthazar's heads all shot up at the sound of Dean's voice through their headsets, "Okay, team. We speak only when spoken to, we avoid all unnecessary contact, and we stay together until we reach the morgue. Understood?" Dean voice cackled over the radio.

Sam nodded sharply, as did Balthazar. Meg however didn't answer and was still glaring at the writing on her arm, muttering her lines under her breath, "We applied the cortical electrode…"

"Meg?" Dean called again.

"…were unable to get a neural response, "She turned and yelled over her shoulder, "Yeah, I got it," she snapped.

Dean frowned and turned back to face her, "Meg. Are we going to have a problem? Cause I want to know now if you are going to do this."

"I know what I have to do," she hissed back.

"That's not what I'm talking about and you know it. Now tell me…am I going to have a problem with you and Cas?"

She shrugged, not turning around to face him. Her refusal to look at him was starting to make Dean nervous, "Look, you got cut up the other day. That's bound to make anyone a little mad, so I figure…"

Dramatically she rolled her eyes and glanced his way, "It's a good plan. They did a good job coming up with it, but it doesn't mean I'm going to like them better, but…nothing buys bygones quicker than cash."

Dean sat back surprised and she turned again to wink at him, "I was even thinking about giving them both tattoos while their out. Or maybe draw on mustaches with a permanent marker."

Somewhat satisfied, Dean nodded, "Well, just let them do their thing, and then you get them out. No messing around for laughs, no matter how tempting."

"Oh, don't you worry about little old me. As long as I get paid I'm happy," she turned around and smiled darkly at the two body bags in front of her before getting back to studying her arms.

* * *

Let me tell you guys this now, writing Meg in this episode was been a pain in the ass. I re-watched a few of the more recent episodes with Meg just to get a feel of her again and I'll I've gotten is that she looks out for herself, she knows how to get what she wants, she is damn smart at manipulating people, and she has her moments where she can "play nice with others" but that's only when she wants something. Only half of these applied to Jayne, so I had to work through all that. Hopefully she won't seem too OOC.


	7. Chapter 7

Notes: So I actually went back an re-read each of my stories to get see where my characters were, where they are now, and if it'll fit with where I'm going. More than anything I was surprised that I actually enjoyed going through them again! There were times where I was like, "I can't believe I wrote _that_" and then there were times I was like, "I can't believe _I_ wrote that". So a mix of good and bad XD At least I know that the story is re-readable!

leahelisabeth: Good luck! You can do it! :D Here is another chapter to keep ya going!

ship. me: Yes happy Valanetines day! Or singles awareness day! Or Shingles awareness day. If there is any day to shingle your roof, today is that day!

Disclaimer: Dude, I don't even have a date for valentines! Dos thou actually think I would own these fandoms and not have a male cast entourage with me at all times?

* * *

CHAPTER 7

Smoothly, Sam menouvered the ship onto the landing pad of the hospital, touching down with the proper balance of urgency and poise that most other medships arrived with. With quick and seemingly practiced movements, Dean, Balthazar and Meg jumped from the ship and quickly transferred the occupied body bags onto the gurneys.

"We've only got a few hours left before the morning shift," Sam reminded Dean as his brother jumped off.

Dean turned back and nodded shortly, "Won't be an hour," he replied. He didn't add the part where that was only if everything went according to plan, which if the elder Winchester was honest with himself didn't really happen all that often.

The three disguised crew members walked towards to autosliding doors, right past the guards at the door, pushing their gurney's with an equally disguising purpose. If you ever want to turn invisible, best technique is to look like you belong in your environment, Dean thought to himself as they entered the hospital, remembering a lesson his father had drilled into him at an early age.

It was just as you would expect a Core hospital to be like. Everything was…clean. Hell, everything was blindingly white or an almost opaque blue. Patients and doctors milled about in pristine lab coats and scrubs, pushing shiny metal wheelchairs or holding perfectly organized clip boards and folders. Dean couldn't help but check the floor behind him as he walked along, making sure that he wasn't tracking dirt in.

Just like their maps had shown, right ahead of them was the Receiving desk where a woman stood. Her hair was pulled back so tight, not a single strand out of place and the doo looked like it might even be painful, or at least restrict her face from too many movements. They walked up to her, pushing along the gurneys with their friends inside.

She didn't even look up from her clipboard as Dean approached, but addressed them anyhow, "What do you have?" She asked briskly, completely professional.

Checking himself over and reminding himself now was not the time for a charming smile, Dean jerked his thumb behind him where his crew stood with the body bags. One last time he prayed that he remembered his lines. Show time, "Got a couple of DOAs, by the time we got there…"

"Take them down to the morgue, " she interrupted, completely uninterested in what had happed. Again, she didn't even look up at them, only disengaged the lock on the door that led into the inner hospital.

Not about to look a gift horse in the mouth, Balthazar and Dean quickly grabbed the gurneys and started to move towards the now open doors, eager to just get going, but Meg slapped on a bitch face to make Sam proud. No way she spent almost four hours memorizing those stupid lines and she didn't even get to use them.

Stormily Meg moved up to the lady and slapped her hands on the desk, "Don't you even care?! These poor sods died even after we applied the cortical electrodes, but tragically we were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient."

The receiving lady stared at Meg for a moment, and then looked down, still completely uninterested. Even as pissed as Meg was that she wasted four hours of her life memorizing something she wouldn't even need, she had to take a moment to appreciate the woman in front of her. Not many people were as indifferent to death as her.

The petite brunette glanced over at Dean and said quietly, "Ooh, I think I like her," she smirked.

Dean roughly pushed Meg forward, and they entered the hallway into the core section. The corridor was even more alarmingly white and it made Dean's eyes ache to look at it. After having every door and hallway seared into their brains from the maps, Dean confidently led them to the morgue.

* * *

This room was even more creepy, mostly because all around the room there were bodies laid out on cold looking metal tables with nothing but their toes sticking out from under blue sheets. Dean tried to be passive as he pushed Cas' gurney over to one of the tables and transferred him from the bag to the table, wincing in apology as he put Cas down on the freezing table.

It was even more unnerving for the Captain to see Cas like this here than it was back in the Impala. Here it just seemed far too real, seeing Cas who was kind of dead for the moment, laying there completely still on a morgue table, lips an alarming blue. If Dean didn't know that it was a drug that did this, he would have truly believed Cas to be dead before him.

A quick glance over at Balthazar who was moving Gabriel, let Dean know that the middle Novak felt exactly the same way. The normally composed man was starting to look a little green as he looked at the "corpses" or his brothers on a slab in a real morgue.

Checking his watch, Dean saw that they were right on time, and pulled out the two syringes from his pocket and picked up Cas' arm to gently slide the first needle in. It glided in smoothly and Dean administered the drug, adding a little prayer that the dosage was right and Cas would be fine. Then he handed the other needle to Balthazar to do the same with Gabriel.

Dean turned to face Meg, "Okay, that should bring them out of it in a few minutes if Bobby was right. Once they're up, get them to the diagnostic ward. Let Gabriel do his thing, and haul them all of you haul it back to the rendezvous. You have fifty minutes," he reminded sternly, making sure that he caught her eye.

Her response was to roll her eyes, "Yeah, I get it. You know I actually paid attention during the planning, right?"

With a soft growl, Dean moved up into her face, "All I'm saying is that you better not mess this up."

It was only her many years of spunk and grit that kept Meg from showing her nervousness at Dean's intense gaze. She just nodded shortly and that was enough for Dean. He and Balthazar grabbed the gurneys and the body bags now stuffed with blankets shaped to look like a body and headed out of the room.

Meg blew out a heavy breath as the doors closed behind them, "Right. Got it. I'll just…sit right here."

She glanced around the room, seeing the many bodies laid out on the many tables. Mentally she counted to ten before walking over to the terminal in the room, punching in the numbers for a call.

Not even two rings later, a man in a Garrison uniform appeared on the telescreen in front of her, "Ni hao," he said, somehow making the greeting sound intimidating.

Meg stared back at the face in front of her, "I'm in," she stated.

The feds face lit up a fraction, "And do you have the fugitives?" He asked only sounding mildly interested.

"You got my reward?" Meg retorted.

The fed smiled and nodded, "Of course. Just like we talked about."

She grinned satisfied, "Then I've got your fugitives."

"Excellent. Then we shall see you shortly. And congratulations, you're about to become a very rich woman."

Meg's grin grew and she cut off the connection.

* * *

After he call, Meg waited for her "charges" to wake up. It would have been incredibly boring, but she was just plain eager to get her money and she found herself completely satisfied to wait for a little while longer.

Slowly wandering around the room, she is startled from her daydreaming by a noise from one of the tables. For one frantic moment she tensed up, ready for a fight or, before she remembered that it was just one of the brothers waking up and not a bunch of fed made zombies coming to get her.

She sauntered over to where the crazy one was slowly opening his eyes and trying to sit up. As soon as he was semi-virtical, he immediately zoned in on Meg's approach and scowled, "You have gold in your eyes. Too bad you'll never get to see it," he hissed and curled his lips in a repulsed grimace.

She forced herself to not react in any way.

Behind them Gabriel suddenly and violently launched up from his table, coughing convulsively and thrashing around. Meg rolled her eyes and called over to the pilot, "What the hell's the matter with you?"

Gabriel took a moment to finish his bout of hacking, "Nothing…._cough_…Just the after effects of the drugs…_cough_… that Bobby said would happen. I'll be fine in a second." He was nearly doubled over with his fit of coughing.

Unable to hold it back, Meg sighed exasperated, "Jeez, Cracker Jacks over here seems fine," and that's when she heard a retching sound behind her followed by a wet splash of something on the floor. She turned to see Cas on his hands and knees, vomiting on the floor the small amount of food that Dean had made him eat earlier.

Trying his best to keep his balance, Gabriel made his way over to Cas, doing his best to sooth his little brother as he continued to expel whatever was left in his stomach. He was rubbing Cas' back when Meg tossed two sets of white hospital garbs at his face.

"Hurry it up, you two. You've got to get dressed and we've got to move. Only 38 minutes left," she grouched.

* * *

Balthazar trailed his gurney behind Dean's as they made their way alone the corridor. Dean had a mental picture of the map in his head, going over the twists and turns they would need to take to get to the drug vault.

"Two lefts, two rights, and we're there," he muttered under his breath. Then he saw movement up ahead and quietly whispered back to Balthazar, "Don't forget to smile at everyone you see. Act like you belong, but don't make eye contact."

"I don't think anyone smiles in hospitals, "Balthazar hissed back.

Dean glanced over his shoulder and grinned widely, "Of course they do, it's the Core. Everyone's rich and happy here. Why wouldn't they smile?"

"Perhaps because they're in a hospital on the night shift?" suggested Balthazar wryly and then shut his mouth as a pompous looking doctor appeared ahead of them.

"Excuse me. _Excuse _me," he called after them when they past by.

Dean immediately turned on the charm and moved to face him, "Hiya, Doc? What can we do for you?" He asked in an almost over friendly manner.

The doctor was less than impressed with the dazzling smile and scowled instead, pointing to the bodies, "Just where are you taking those bodies?"

Dean jerked his chin in the direction they were heading, "Just downstairs to the morgue."

Scoffing, the doctor shook his head and pointed in the opposite direction, "That might be difficult because the morgue is in the _other_ direction."

Dean's smile only faultered a little and he glanced quickly at Balthazar, "Ah, right. Sorry, must have gotten turned around," sheepishly Dean rubbed at the back of his neck and Balthazar tried to smile, but it came out more like a grimace.

Not amused in the least, the doctor held out his hand, "Let me see your badges," he ordered.

The two crew members stomachs flipped.

* * *

Dun dun dun! Oooh! We're back to cliffies again! :D


	8. Chapter 8

Notes: AHHHHH! Where did my internet go!? It left me for 38 hours and it nearly ruined my life! But seriously, I couldn't finish a homework assignment and I was soooo freaked out! And terribly sorry for not being able to post the next chapter XP So here it is, fresh off the presses! And happy Saturday to all!

leahelisabeth: Omagosh! I hope your midterm went well! Here is another chappie to keep your mind occupied if you're not too busy with the move! :D

ship. me: I totally forgot about that line XD And hellz to the yeah for half price chococlate! Buy all the dark!

chaoswalking: I think it deserves a "Dun dun Duuuuuun" XD So glad you're liking it! Hearts!

Disclaimer: Like many things from this life I love...I have them not, but that won't stop me from creeper staring from a distance.

* * *

CHAPTER 8

It was beginning to be hard to push Cas' wheelchair through the hospital as Gabriel's hands started to become incredibly sweaty. His fingers and palms kept slipping over the handles as his nervousness compiled to epic proportions.

Gabriel knew that this was going to be scary, he had even tried some old calming techniques before this whole thing, but they had done nothing to help quell the butterflies in his stomach as they moved through the more crowded parts of the hospital. There were other patients being pushed in wheelchairs, or more sick ones being transferred on beds. Castiel would gaze at each of them as they passed, sadness masking his face as he could do nothing to help them.

Meg was still in her EMT uniform, following behind Gabriel who had donned some white scrubs under his white lab coat that was perhaps just a little too long for him. In front of him, he was pushing Cas, now dressed in a patient's gown and bathrobe, in a stolen wheelchair. As nerve wracking as it was to move through the more occupied parts of the hospital, it was a lot easier to hide in plain sight when there were people milling all around them.

Cas was playing his part wonderfully, a complete natural, thought Gabriel. Cas looked like he belonged in a hospital, with his gaunt face and dark circles under his eyes. He was even grimacing in pain as he squirmed in the uncomfortable chair, trying remove the pressure from his back. Not to mention, if by any chance they were stopped all they needed was for Cas to speak and they would probably just be re-direct to the psych ward instead of setting off any alarms. The sad part of it though, was that Cas didn't even have to act to make the impression that he belonged here.

In order to get to the diagnostic ward, they needed to pass through the post-op ward, as well as the imaging ward. Post-op was bustling with gurneys being moved around, patients shuffling around with I.V poles beside them, perfect place for them to blend. Entering this first ward was about the time that Cas started to sing quietly to himself, "_I'm just a little black rain cloud, hovering over the honey tree. I'm just a little black rain cloud, pay no attention to me_…"

Cas was only two verses in when Meg couldn't take it anymore and she leaned close to Gabriel, "You wanna shut him up?" she hissed.

Gabriel ignored her and leaned down to Cas' ear, "Hey little bro, you're doing great so far. How you feeling?"

Ceasing his song for a short moment, Cas glanced around them as more patients shuffled or were pushed by, "They're doing it backwards; walking up the down slide," he commented sadly.

"Keep. Him. Quiet." Meg growled, glancing nervously around them for anyone who might overhear. There was a lot of money on the line, and she wasn't about to watch her plan blow up because Chuckles couldn't keep his crazy thoughts to himself.

Again Gabriel leaned forward to whisper in his brother's ear, "Cassy, this is the post-op ward. This is where patients come to get better," he said trying to ease Castiel. Of course his little brother would have less than nice memories about hospitals...

"They're going to die," Cas whispered back, now becoming more distressed.

Gabriel felt the panic rise even higher. They did _not _need Cas to freak out here, "They're not going to die, Cassy-bear. There are doctors here to help."

His little brother scowled, "Not all the doctors help," He pointed to a bed to their left, "that one is going to die."

The bed that Cas had pointed at was half covered by a curtain hanging from the ceiling and was occupied by a middle aged man. There were no doctors around him, but the machines around him were silent. Gabriel frowned and leaned down again, "I'm sure the doctors here are going to do their best."

Cas shook his head, "They rely on blips and beeps, instead of pumps and beats. Don't notice when the machine breaks." Then Cas started to fidget even more in his chair, making movements to try and stand up.

"Cassy, stay in the chair."

"No. We have to help. They don't know that he's bleeding inside." Cas pleaded.

Meg and the pilot exchanged confused glance.

"You have to help him, Gabe. I can't. I'm weakened," Cas said urgently, eyes wide and panicky as he looked up at his brother.

"There's no time," Gabriel tried, but Cas hissed and tried to stand up again only to have Meg slam him back in the chair. Gabriel saw the breakdown coming fast, and knew that he had to do something before everything blew up in their faces. Gabriel left his brother's side and went up to the bed, pulling the curtain closed around him and placed his hand on the man's chest. He sent out a quick prayer that no one saw him enter, and also that no one enter and see what he was about to do.

Spreading his fingers, he let the glowing tendrils pass through his fingers and into the man to feel around his body, searching each fiber and vein. He found it almost immediately. A stitch that had burst in his belly and was now pooling blood inside. Gabriel glanced at the monitors to see that the screen was black because it had become unplugged from the wall. He knew that there would be no time for the surgeons here to save this man, even if he plugged the machine back in and they were finally alerted to his condition.

So using he newly rekindled energy, Gabriel pulsed out the tendrils to start mending the man's insides, sparking the cells inside the man to divide and develop and pull the split flesh back together. When he finished, the man was at least a week ahead in his recovery than if he had healed normally. Gabriel scrambled out of the curtain and back to his brother and Meg.

"He's going to be fine, Cassarole. You set to keep going?"

"Of course," he replied softly.

Satisfied for the moment, Cas sat back in his seat and they quickly started their way forward to the next ward, imaging. Above his brother, Gabriel blew out a relieved breath and made to move on faster, but stopped short as a hand reached out suddenly and grabbed his arm.

* * *

Shuffling his feet nervously, Dean watched as the doctor looked over their badges. Balthazar was starting to sweat visibly and Dean wanted nothing more than to get going as fast as possible.

Finally the doctor looked up and looked the two men up and down, analyzing them further, "Walk with me a minute," he said finally and Dean knew that they had been made.

"Uh, sure. Where we going?" Balthazar asked nervously.

The doctor turned around to face the middle Novak, leaving his back to Dean, "You see this badge? It says 'Doctor Sexi' on it. Not 'EMT Sexi'. Now, I say walk, you walk."

Stalling for time Balthazar tried again, "Yeah, okay, but where are we going?"

The short doctor moved up to Balthazar, his chin barely coming up to the posh man's chest, "You must be new. Don't get comfortable, your type never lasts long around here. When your supervisor hears about your childish and rude behavior-ARGH!"

The doctor's scream ended quickly as he fell to the ground unconscious, revealing Dean standing there with defibrillator pads in both hands and grinning widely. The Captain shrugged innocently at Balthazar, "Clear?" he joked.

Balthazar sent him a withering look.

"Fine, don't appreciate the wonder that is my sense of humor, just...help me with this guy," mumbled Dean as he and Balthazar bent down to lift the unconscious doctor.

"Dean, what do you suppose he meant by, 'your type'?"

* * *

"What are you _doing_ here?!" Anna whispered, somehow making it sound like a shriek.

Still trying to get his beating heart back under control, Gabriel turned to face Anna, who had stopped them as them moved into the imaging ward. Meg started to curse under her breath. She had completely forgotten that the Companion was at a hospital for the last two days. Just their luck that out of the hundreds of hospitals on the whole gorramn planet, Anna just happened to be at this one, Meg thought bitterly.

Castiel perked up at seeing Anna and remembered what Dean had told him to say if anyone was to ask why Cas was there, "I have a painful….burning sensation," he reported dutifully, making Gabriel wince and Anna frown.

Anna picked up on the nervousness of her fellow crew members and quickly ushered them to the nearest elevator and they all piled inside. Quickly she shut the doors to the cabin and hit the power button, cutting off anyone from entering, or the cameras from seeing or hearing anything that went on inside.

Gabriel let out a shuttering breath and then Cas spoke up from his chair, "Oh, don't worry. The doors open again," he informed each of them kindly and then proceeded to go over the various exits of the elevator.

The others chose to ignore him for the moment and Anna whirled on the other two, "So, are you going to explain to me what is going on here? Is there something wrong with Castiel? Has he gotten worse?" she asked worriedly, while she looked him over. He looked rough, but he had been looking like that for a while now. She looked to Gabriel for an explanation.

The pilot rubbed the back of his neck wearily, "Truthfully, it might be best if you don't know what's going on here. But you can at least know that we're mostly here to get Cas checked out. We're hoping to get a better idea of what's wrong with him so that we can maybe ease the discomfort."

Anna raised a delicate eyebrow, "That so?" She knew that there was a hell lot more involved here. Helping Cas was wonderful, but this was Core hospital and had intimidating amounts of security that made even Anna nervous. However, she would agree to be left in the dark for now simply because she could see how impatient they all were to get going.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" she asked finally.

"Just stay the hell out of our way," grumbled Meg and hit the power button again, triggering the doors open. Then grabbing the wheelchair out of Gabriel's hands, she pushed Castiel out of the elevator.

"I told you they would open again," Cas said knowingly to the others as they stepped out. Anna obligingly thanked him and kissed his cheek before they moved off quickly. She watched them go, sending out a short prayer to see them safely back to the Impala. They were playing a dangerous game right now. With feds around every corner, it was only a matter of time before the Novak's nightmares became a reality.

"Are you ready for your next exam?"

Anna turned to her attending nurse and nodded, painting on a fake smile for her. At least this exam Anna would easily be able to take her mind off of the prodding with knowing that her crew was up to something risky.

* * *

Yes, I did add Anna back in. I hated how in the original episode both Bobby and Anna's characters would be absent, so I decided to change that! And I wonder if anyone recognized the little song that Cas was singing...?


	9. Chapter 9

Notes: Oooo! This chapter reveals some more of plot to come! And I threw in a small Destiel moment for those of you who have been waiting so long. Enjoy!

leahelisabeth: AH! You knew it was Winnie the pooh! That made my day! Also that you saw the Hobbit twice! I've seen it three times so far cause guys keep on taking me there and I'm not about to say no! So glad to hear that everything is going well and good luck with the cleaning! :)

Disclaimer:..._pst_..._pst_...I have a secret...I don't own this.

* * *

CHAPTER 9

The diagnostic ward was empty, just like they had planned on. After all, it was 4 am and not much diagnostic work of this proportion was done so late. Even so, Meg stayed in front of the others, peering around each corner as they moved forward. She continued to eye the sharp surgical tools as they walked by them, her fingers itching to hold a weapon. Not yet, she told herself. She couldn't chance being found with a weapon before her plan was finished.

The room they were looking for was at the end of the hallway and they quickly ran up to its double doors when they came into sight. Meg glanced at the sign on the wall, "_3-D Scanner",_ and nodded to her companions. This was the place.

She had been expecting a normal examination room, a bed and some cupboards and some fancy piece of machinery on a counter top, but this was something else entirely. The doors opened to reveal a very large room of the same blinding white as the rest of the hospital. There was one singular and uncomfortable looking bed in the center of the room with the panel of buttons set next to it and absolutely nothing else. Kind of eerie, she thought.

Castiel seemed to be thinking the same thing and started to fidget with the edge of the sleeve on his bathrobe. Absently she took note of his nervous darting eyes and he glanced at the bed in the room and how he paled until he almost matched the walls. Even the pilot was looking a little pasty.

Bracing himself, Gabriel moved to kneel in front of his little brother and look him in the eyes. Cas met his hesitantly, "Hey Cassy. I need you to listen to me, okay? I know that this is scary for you. Hell, even I'm a little freaked out to be here. Guess it brings back some nasty memories, doesn't it?"

Cas nodded slightly.

"Yeah. But we're not here to hurt you. We're here to help you, and to do that we'll need you to get up on the bed so we can take some pictures. I promise that it won't hurt and I'll be right next to you the whole time. Do you think you can do that for me?" Gabriel asked softly.

As answer, Castiel rose from the chair and moved up to the bed, his steps becoming smaller and slower the closer he got to it. He was practically shaking by the time he was standing next to it. Gabriel moved up behind him and helped him remove the bathrobe and get up on the bed, murmuring comforts under his breath.

Meg stood back from the whole proceedings, watching the scene play out before her. She glanced around the room again, wondering if this was what the Host looked like and if perhaps the men with her had been in a room like this before, or even had this machine used on them before. But what did she care? She was just bored and thinking about things. A few hours from now she would be rolling naked in cash, and wasn't that a lot more fun to think about. She smiled secretly to herself.

Slowly Gabriel lowered Cas to lay back on the bed, wincing along with his brother when he had to touch his aching back to the surface. Gently he squeezed Cas' shoulder before turning his attention to the panel beside the bed. He fished around his pocket until his fingers closed around the paper instructions that Bobby had written out for him as well as the thumb drive that would store all the findings to interpret later.

He started by booting up the system, the powering up breaking through the stunning silence in the room and making Castiel jerk in fear.

Gabriel smiled softly at him in comfort, "You ready, little bro?"

Cas may have looked petrified with a dash of apprehension, but he nodded anyway and closed his eyes and Gabriel started the first scan. A blue line of light trailed over Cas' head in a grid pattern, mapping him from the inside out.

Fifty seconds to scan complete, Gabriel thought to himself and he held his breath as a sharp humming fills the room.

* * *

Thoughts of Cas and Gabriel were flashing through both of their minds as Balthazar and Dean made their way through the corridor. Dean just knew that this was hard for Cas. He had no idea what the Host was like, or what it even looked like, but Balthazar had mentioned his concerns that the "familiar environment" might cause some problems for him and maybe even Gabriel.

Not for the first time Dean wished that he could have been the one to escort them to the diagnostic ward. Right now it felt like there was a string tugging at his heart, pulling him in the other direction.

"Twelve-oh-five. Here it is," Balthazar's voice broke Dean from his thoughts and see that they had arrived at their destination. Dean pulled out the key card that they had been given and gave it a quick swipe through the lock.

Immediately the doors slid open and before them was a room, 20x20 feet and wall to wall vials.

Balthazar and Dean exchange looks and surged forward.

First thing they did was empty the two body bags of their contents, Balthazar's a bunch of balled up cloths, and Dean's the unconscious form of the pompous doctor from before. Its not like they could have just left him there in the hallway. Roughly depositing him to the floor, the two went about scanning the vials and bottles around the room.

Reaching into his breast pocket, Dean pulled out the handy list of drugs that Balthazar and Bobby had compiled for them and started searching for the matching names. Spotting the a row of the first name on the list, Dean quickly swipes them into his body bag with a sweep of his arm.

Balthazar was on the other side of the room doing the same thing. It wasn't too long until they had gotten each names drug on the list, and then some more when the bags still had some extra room left in them.

Then as quickly as possible, they punched and organized the vials in the bags to have some semblance to the form of a body. Their part of the heist was almost done, and as far as Dean was concerned, it couldn't come any sooner. His palms were sweat over the worry for Cas and Gabriel. There wasn't even worry left for him and Balthazar at this point, Dean was just too wrapped up in what was going on in another wing of the hospital.

It was taking some serious willpower to keep to the plan and not run after the rest of his crew and forget the drugs, but then again, Sam would probably kill him for messing around with Gabriel's plan. God, how Dean wished that Sam was by his side. His brother would know how to center Dean again.

For weeks now Dean had been running that horror filled night where he had almost lost his ship and his crew all in one night, re-living each and every moment in order to get in all straight in his head. However there were two moments that stood out against all others and haunted Dean in two very different ways.

If Dean had to guts, or the ovaries, to talk to Sam about this, he would probably say that he understood exactly what Dean was going through and that it was completely normal. Watching your best friend "die" in front of you is not something you can just let go of, not even if you're as emotionally calloused as Dean. And that moment in the infirmary when Cas' heart had stopped…well, Dean's heart stopped for a beat in recovered fear each time he remembered it.

But it was the second memory that truly troubled Dean's mind. It was that small kiss that he had left on Cas' lips before the shuttle had taken off, before Dean believed that Cas was being taken away. Even now Dean couldn't even fathom why he had done that, what had possessed him for those few seconds. Well, perhaps there was a simple answer, but Dean wasn't just ready to admit it to himself.

"Hey, everything alright, darling?" Balthazar asked with a weak smile, breaking Dean from his thoughts.

Dean offered an even weaker smile back and nodded, "Yeah, let's just get this over with. Don't want Gabe and Meg to beat us back. Wouldn't be right."

Both of them pushed their gurneys along the hallways, heading to the docks. Dean took a moment to send out a call to Sam from his radio, signaling to his brother to get to the landing pad. One glance at his watch; 20 minutes to go.

* * *

A soft 'bing' sounded from the computer as the first scan completed and Gabriel started typing in the instructions to take a look at the results of the cranial exam. Above Cas' head a series of holographic images appeared, first the skeletal system showing his skull in nearly transparent 3-D, then Gabriel switched to the next image of his circulatory system showing the veins, one more click and all that floated over Cas was the image of his brain for all to see.

During the scan, Cas had hesitantly opened his eyes a crack and once the images appeared, he opened his eyes wide, enthralled by the sight in front of him. It wasn't every day that someone got to see their own brain.

Triggering the next scan, Gabriel stepped up to the holographic image of his little brother's cranium and took the edges of the projected picture as if it were solid and rotated it, studying and changing the angles.

Meg had been watching without saying much as the first image popped up, but then she saw the frown that appeared on Gabriel's face as he turned the hologram this way or that and she had to quell her curiosity.

"So?"

His frown deepened as he continued to examine the results, "Well, I half expected as much. Before I left, they had started whispering about experimenting with our heads, cutting in and splicing some wires and such. I got out before all of that, but looks like Cassy made it just in time," he muttered, his normal joking tone disturbingly absent.

"What does that mean?"

He glanced at her for a fraction on a second before turning back to the image, "It means they opened up her skull. See this?" he pointed out a small white line in the hologram, "I bet you ten chocolate bars that it's a scalpel scar. They…" he gulped hard as if something were choking him, "They must have opened up his skull and cut into his brain…"

A shiver went through Meg, "What the hell for? All it did was make him talk like a fortune cookie and scream like a banshee."

A giggle came from the table where Cas lay, "They must know that a shrimps heart is in its head," he said dreamily as he continued to stare at his brain. The two looked down at Cas as his eyes looked up, glassy and wide. For the first time, Meg actually felt a shock of revulsion at what had been done to the person in front of her. She didn't mind torture, hell sometimes she even enjoyed doing it, but this was something else entirely. Only someone truly fucked up in the mind would think this was okay. She might enjoy breaking someone, but she certainly didn't want it around to haunt her all the time.

The computer 'binged' again as the next scan completed, making both Gabriel and Meg jump. The second scan had completed.

"Listen, I'd love to sit here and look over more pretty pictures, but we only have ten minutes left, so let's get moving," Meg urged.

Gabriel turned to her with a confused look, "I thought that we had 20 minutes left," he ventured.

She tried her best to slap on an innocent face before answering, "Oh, the plan changed while you and Crazy Cakes over there were out. We're meeting out the back way in ten."

"I, I could use another minute. Just to make sure that the second scan came out okay. It's the one where we can see his…"

"I don't care if we can see his appendix scar or his last meal, we have to go now," she growled.

Frantically Gabriel turned back to the computer and quickly tapped the buttons to transfer both scans onto the thumb drive, "Okay Cassy-bear, looks like we have to get going. Gotta go meet Dean."

He reached forward to help his brother sit up and hop off the table, and then slipped the bathrobe back on over his shoulders while Meg rolled the wheelchair over. Once Cas was situated in the chair, Gabriel turned to rip the thumb drive out from the port, but the action triggered the second scan to appear over the table for them to see, stopping the pilot in his tracks.

Meg was just about to yell at them to hurry the hell up when she noticed what had drawn the older Novak's attention. The image before them was of Cas' body, from his neck down, the picture glowing brightly in order to better visualize. For results. The shape would have looked perfectly normal, but it wasn't the shape that shocked them.

What really stood out from the glowing light blue image, were two very large dark shadows in the scan that spread from the shoulders to the small of his back. Meg might not have a medical degree, or even have finished schooling, but she had torn apart enough bodies to know that those shouldn't be there.

"What…the hell are those," she whispered.

Gabriel was in pure shock and couldn't tear his eyes away from what was before him, 'I…I don't know."

Another giggle erupted from Cas, "Oh, look! I'm glowing! I must be a Firefly now!"

Shaking her head, Meg tore her eyes away from the image and grabbed the pilot's shoulder, giving it a rough shake, "Hey, Captain's orders. Let's get going. You can ponder over the ominous shadows of doom later," then she shoved the chair forward, triggering Gabriel to finally move.

Just as they reached the door, Cas' giggle turned to terrified screams that were quickly rising in octaves and Meg was not only worried about someone hearing, but also his screech to appear and shatter the many glass objects around them.

Gabriel reacted right away, jumping in front of the chair to cup his brother's face in his hands and try to sooth him, "Shhh, shh. It's okay. It's all over. We're leaving."

"No, no, no, they come out of the black. They come when you call…"Cas choked out, his screams turning to broken sobs. That's when the hairs on the back of Gabriel's neck raised. In a shock of horrified panic, the pilot wondered if it wasn't seeing the crimes done to his body that led to this breakdown. Perhaps there was something far worse about.

Meg watched as Gabriel tried to comfort Castiel, but she flinched when the younger brother turned to glare at her, "You may wish to hide your head in the sand, but they will still see the rest of you even if you cannot see them. You left your flank open." he said to her in a wrecked voice.

"The only hidden head here is yours cause it's stuck so far up your—"

"Hey! Back off!" Gabriel shouted and glared at the brunette.

She curled a lip in response, "Whatever. You just make sure that he keeps his mouth shut. We don't need him screeching while we're trying to make a quiet getaway."

Reluctantly agreeing, Gabriel returned to trying to get Cas to calm down. Once they had gotten his brother to the point of silent tears, they all pushed out the door.

Gabriel rushed along. He didn't want to feel out what was making him and Cas feel so on edge. Really he didn't want to know.

* * *

Teeheehee, MOAR cliffies!


	10. Chapter 10

Notes: Holy Hannah! My mom just brought my bunnies from home for me to visit with! I've missed them so much! I am soooo not getting any homework or writing done today XD

Rhiotre: Hiya hello! How is life?! Omagosh, you guys are always so awesome and pick out my FAVE lines from each chapter! It's like y'all know me or something! You're awesome. Stay shiny!

ship. me: *squee!* I'm so happy that you like it! More is on its way soon! I was a little worried with the "big reveal* but you guys are pretty damn smart. I figured y'all might have an idea as to where I was headed. Enjoy!

leahelisabeth: NERDS UNITE! I can't even begin to tell you how obsessed I was with LOTR. I had the entire cast's bios memories, even their birthdays. It was my first fangirling ever D"X Oh, how nostalgic! Hearts and hugs and another chapter! Enjoy!

aGuestu: Omagoodness, you are too cute. I was wondering if people would pick up on it in the early mentions of the series! Gold star for you! :D I hope that the rest lives up to expectations! Hearts and Hugs and Enjoy!

Disclaimer: If I owned these fandoms, I would not be writing fanfic. I would be writing episodes and in each scene you would hear my evil maniacal cackling laughter in the background noise.

* * *

CHAPTER 10

Mostly subdued for the moment, Cas sat quietly in the chair as he was pushed along, his thoughts somewhere outside the hospital's sterile walls. The tendrils of light he sent out were stretched so thin that they barely registered anything, but a light tingle along the tips let him know that something was out there and that it was coming for him. It didn't take a genius to know what that was as his tendrils came back to him with perhaps a bit to familiar a feel.

"You should have let me know when the plan changed," hissed his brother as they moved stealthily through the corridors. Cas could hear the slight edge in his brother's voice, obviously also picking up a sense of something but not knowing what just yet.

Meg hissed right back, 'I told you when you needed to know. What do you care? You got what you came for."

Gabriel might not be able to see the murky colors of deceit in her putrid glow, but Castiel could, and it disgusted him. He would have to deal with her later as right now there were far more terrifying monsters about.

"Gabriel. Gabriel, please." He pleaded while half turning to face his brother.

The pilot didn't stop or slow down even for a moment, urged on by some force telling him to run, "What is it, Castiel?"

"Shut up, both of you and follow me. This is the way out back," Meg directed, not giving the little Novak a chance to say anything damning. It was obvious to Meg that Cas knew something was up, and more than likely he knew what Meg had waiting for them. But they were almost there. Just a few more steps.

"It's okay, We're just going back to the ship. We're almost home," Gabriel continued to recite as they moved more urgently forward, but for all his comfort he was starting to feel even more dread oncoming.

Meg reached the end of the corridor and waited for the pilot to catch up with Castiel, she only opened the door when they reached it, letting them rush through first.

What they thought would be their crew welcoming them back was far from the real life nightmare in front of them.

"Federal Marshals! Don't Move!"

Twenty or so feds stood before them, weapons raised high and pointed at the two brothers. Gabriel swore that his heart stopped beating at the sight and all he could do to keep his knees from buckling was to grip Cas' shoulders tight as his little brother froze solid.

"Gabriel and Castiel Novak, by the authority of the Garrison, you are hereby bound by law."

Slowly the feds started inching forward, guns still trained on the brothers and fear evident in their eyes. All that these feds probably knew was that Cas and Gabriel were listed as "highly dangerous" in their report and who knows what other lies had been concocted. These were feds, not the Host after all. They wouldn't have a clue who they were arresting or why.

Upon reflex, Gabriel glanced behind him, ready to turn around and bolt, but when he turned he was greeted by a nervous Meg being pushed forward through the door where more feds had come up from behind. They were trapped, and Gabriel already felt like he was suffocating.

* * *

Within two minutes they had each been grabbed, their hands cuffed behind their back and they even placed ankle cuff on the two brothers. Meg had a genuinely shocked look upon her face as she was cuffed, but didn't put up much of a fuss which confused Gabriel a little, but he had far more worrisome issues at the moment.

One very worrisome issue was that Cas had gone almost completely catatonic and would only walk forward if guided. It was incredibly eerie and off-putting to see his brother doing an excellent impression of a zombie when the pilot was more expecting a complete nuclear meltdown.

"Take them to processing," ordered the head honcho here. Meg had been glaring at this guy since they slapped the fancy bracelets on her. She waited for the Novaks to turn away before approaching the guy in charge, Agent McGinnis as his tag read.

She lowered her voice, glancing over ever few seconds to make sure that neither brother was watching. If this went even further south than it was now, she wanted to remain "innocent" , "So, you going to take me away for questioning now? How are we playing this?"

He turned to her with a look of what he damn well pray wasn't pity, "Turning in your friends, tsk tsk. You don't seem the least bit bothered."

"Hey, I take power where I can get it. I've got myself to look out for. And I don't have friends.."She retorted annoyed.

He smirked at her and gestured over one of his men, "Well, that's too bad. Prison's a lonely place without friends. And you are under arrest for aiding and abetting federal fugitives. You better get a lawyer."

"You better be kidding. What about my rutting money? What about taking the price off my head?!" She growled, tugging and pulling her arms that itched with the need to strangle the man in front of her.

He chuckled softly, "You mean _my_ money? For apprehending the _three_ fugitives, now that I have the elusive Meg? I expect to be getting the money soon. It's such a shame that we don't have the middle brother, but I'm sure he'll turn up in time."

She lunged forward only to be shot down with stunners by one of the minions in the room. As she twitched on the floor she still held her head up to glare at McGinnis.

* * *

Just as gently as before, Sam touched the ship down on the landing pad, ready and waiting for the others to show up. He glanced down at his watch; five minutes to go. Nervously he tapped out a staccato on his uniformed leg.

Not even a minute later Dean and Balthazar came out from the hospital doors and they all grinned as soon as they saw each other. Making quick work of it, Sam hopped out to help them secure the "body" bags in the back.

"Four minutes early! I don't believe we have ever even been on time before!" Sam breathed out in hysterical relief now that he saw his brother return safely.

Dean seemed to be a little more reserved with his accomplishment as he kept glancing over to the hospital doors, waiting for the rest of their crew to come out. His watch showed that they had three minutes left before they were overdue.

With the adrenaline and the caper to distract him now almost over, Balthazar sank down in the ship and stared at the doors, counting down each second until his brothers were supposed to appear.

"So how much did we get?" Sam asked the two in attempt pass the time and relieve the stress until the others got back.

"Enough to keep us flying," Dean grunted, not taking his eyes away from the doors.

"I'll buy Meg a hundred new shirts if she just gets them back safely," came a mutter from Balthazar.

Dean sighed and glanced worriedly at Sam, "Let's just keep calm, job isn't done until we're all back on the Impala. I'm sure they'll be on their way."

One minute and twenty-three seconds to go…

* * *

They had been moved to a small room in one of the unused wards of the hospital where they had been seated in a row on an old examination bed. The shock of it all made the whole situation incredibly surreal. Gabriel wasn't even sure if this wasn't one of his many nightmares that plagued him those first few years after his escape. This one was ten kinds of cruel since it involved Cassy, and then another ten kinds of weird since Meg was here with them.

Stiffly he turned to glance at her, noticing her deathly glare at the feds around them. Guiltily Gabriel realized that even after what Cas had done to her, she was now stuck here in cuffs next to them looking forward to misery and she wasn't even glaring at him and Cas, she was pissed at the feds.

He leaned in close to her and whispered, "If those officers hadn't been armed, I think you'd have had a chance." He tried to sooth her wounded ego.

She didn't even look at him, "A guy shoves me, I shove him. Not like I was trying to mount a rescue. That's Sam and Dean's thing," she sighed.

"Still. I appreciate you trying…"

"You know what I'd appreciate? You stop flapping your mouth at me. I'm trying to figure out a way out of here and I can't do it with you yammering away," she growled lowly. It was bad enough that she got herself into this situation, but now the pilot was trying to make friends. The whole thing pissed her off.

"They took Christmas away…"

Both of them jumped at the sound of Castiel's voice as it drifted from where he sat. It was the first time he spoke since they had been arrested.

"What the hell is he going on about now?" Meg asked annoyed.

"Came downstairs for the shiny presents. They took the tree and the stockings. Nothing left but coal and ashes on the floor…" he whispered as a single tear rolled down his cheek.

"Will you shut him up?!" Meg hissed at Gabriel.

"Don't look in the closet either. It's greedy. Not in the spirit of the holiday."

Having heard enough, Meg leaned forward over Gabriel to get into Cas' face, "You shut the hell up, right now, or so help me, I will shut you up myself."

Slowly Cas turned his blank gaze to her, "Isn't it sad…that birds sign their loveliest songs when they are placed in cages?"

She sank back defeated.

* * *

He didn't want to glance down. He really didn't want to know how long it had been because he wasn't sure if he would be able to keep his cool. So when Sam was the one to ask, Dean's whole body tensed up to the point where his muscled started to protest.

"Time?"

Balthazar groaned when he glanced at his own watch and ran a shaking hand through his hair, "Ten minutes past rendezvous," he spat out and looked over to Dean with a pleading look, as if the Captain could will them to appear.

Dean chose to ignore the look, "Something's happened," he stated, his voice far more steady than the rest of him. He turned to Sam and gestured him to get the radio.

Hopping up into the ship, Sam slapped his hand onto one of the radio sets and tossed it out to his brother who caught it easily, "Hey, Bobby. You linked?"

"_Linked. What's going on?"_

Dean took a steadying breath before answering, "I think that…I need you to help us out with something," he rushed out in one breath, the nervous panic rising in his chest. He startled himself by having to blink back an odd wetness in his eyes and clear his throat of muck.

"_That's what I'm here for, boy. Tell me what you need."_

"Bobby….they haven't gotten back yet…I-I need you to check if there was any kind of security alert in the hospital."

"_Hang on, I'm checking."_

Sam and Balthazar had come up beside Dean as they waited for an answer from the preacher.

"Could just be that they're late," tried Sam.

Dean shook his head, "Not this late."

"_I've got nothing from hospital security, nothing on the local pipeline either…"_

All three of them let out a relieved breath.

"…_Although…I'm getting some weird chatter from the official two-six-two. Sounds like….their talking about ducks?"_

Dean's blood froze as he glanced at Sam. They both knew what that meant, "Code," breathed Sam, "the feds got them."

Balthazar let out an anguished cry.

"Bobby, bring up a hospital schematic on the cortex. Find me a way to get to them," Dean ordered shortly.

"Wait, Dean. You don't even know if they are still in the hospital," Sam tried to reason.

"Well, we're going to find out." Dean hopped in the back of the ship and opened one of the cabinet doors to reveal a full stock of weapons hidden inside under a flap. He made quick motions to pull out two hand guns that he strapped to his thigh or held in his hand, and then placed several knives in pockets, sleeves or shoes.

Sam nodded in understanding and he and Balthazar moved up next to the Captain and started strapping on his own weapons. They would get them back if they were still in the hospital, even if it meant going in there with guns blazing.

Dean grabbed up the radio again, "Bobby. You find me a way around back. I'm bringing everyone home."

* * *

Winchesters to the rescue! Go get your boys and bring them home! *playing triumphant hero music*


	11. Chapter 11

Notes: I love it when a story comes together! I gotta tell you guys. So many of you have been waiting and waiting for the War story re-write, and truthfully I was struggling with it because of character emotion match-ups from firefly and supernatural, but I think I finally figured out something that will work. I do hope to make it as believable and as exciting as you guys are looking for! But anyways, back to writing for me!

leahelisabeth: Amen to that! Tolkien was the man! Made up his own friggin language!

ship. me: Hang in there! I had to add that line because of all the feels I got from it during the show. Dean breaking down, Bobby being there for him, gah! MOAR triumphant hero music! *triggers batman theme song*

Disclaimer: Making my way down town, walking fast. Faces past and I'm running to my room to cry because yet again I'm told I don't own this.

* * *

CHAPTER 11

It was getting to that point of absolute terror and panic that Gabriel was unsure whether a lot of time had passed by as he pondered his fate, or no time had passed at all as everything moved by in a great blur. As it was, the three of them had not moved at all from where they were seated on the bench as the feds made the many calls that procedure dictated. It wasn't until McGinnis had come up to them and shouted twice that Gabriel was able to hear past the deafening roar in his ears.

"I said, get up!" Then he followed up this command by roughly grabbing the once again catatonic Castiel's arm and pulling him up from the bench.

Gabriel quickly stood and moved up next to his brother, "What's going to happen to us?" he asked, knowing and dreading the answer, but the agent ignored him and instead gestured for his men to start moving their prisoners forward.

Pushing back, Gabriel growled and tried again. This time he shrugged off the fed holding him and stood face to face with the man, "Agent McGinnis, was it? I'm certain you're working under a superior who is keeping close tabs on this case. That's what the delay is all about? Actually, I know this is true because important people don't _do_ field work. I'm also quite certain your superior wants me and my brother alive, as we are both _very_ expensive. Now…I'm not going to move from this spot until one of two things happens. You answer my very simple question, or you shoot me."

They could all see the gears working in the feds eyes. Of course he wanted to play it cool and not lose his stance of superiority to his prisoner, but he also wasn't about to mess up what was probably his one chance at promotion. He chose to puff out his chest and tower as much over the elder Novak as he could manage, "We are transferring you into a holding area until you can be retrieved," he reported, biting off the end of each word.

Meg looked panicked, "Wait. By who? I'm not going to the same place as them, right? I don't want to anyone messing around in my head!"

McGinnis looked smug, "I believe you mean, by _whom_. And I don't care what they do with you, but perhaps for convenience sake I'll just let whoever takes these two, take you as well Ms. Masters."

You could practically see the steam coming out of her ears, and if Gabriel wasn't in shock he might have wondered how that man knew who Meg was. And if anyone was paying attention, they might have noticed Castiel turn his head in the "tuning into the universe" head tilt.

The agent continued, "As it were, I will be handing you over to people who want those two alive, not so much you, so you may as well cooperate," he turned to one of his minions, "Take them."

Each of the prisoners were grabbed roughly from behind by a soldier, or two in Castiel's case, as they were led out of the spare examination room. Meg was led in front, and she mentally calculated the strength of the four men escorting them. She took small note that they were being led to one of the side exits of the hospital that would take them to the loading dock. That area was an easy bottle neck and once they got closer to that part of the hospital, there would be no chance of escape.

Up ahead she noticed a set of doors that she remembered from the hospital maps Bobby had procured for the planning. If memory served then there was a fork on the other side of it. One way leading to the loading dock, the other leading to the back of the hospital…where they might just be able to slip out.

Strengthening her resolve, Meg relaxed in her escorts grip, getting him to subconsciously lower his guard. There was no rutting way that she would let these goons turn her into a freak like Castiel and his brother. She had been kicking herself repeatedly for her own stupidity in trusting the feds to their word when it came to her deal with them. She was looking for a clean slate for a while and some cash to start off, and instead she ended up with a probable ticket to the Host.

She couldn't help but glance at her two companions as they sat there in the exam room. There was little else to entertain her. But she took note of how the normally jovial pilot had been reduced to a pale and panicking mess, and how Funny Farm had nearly turned into a statue. The Host was definitely not a place she wanted to go, and here she found herself on her way with them.

_Snort. _As if.

As soon as the swinging doors shut behind them, Meg lashed out with her elbow, hitting her guard in the face. Without missing a beat she twisted to kick the guard holding Gabriel in the stomach, and the pilot waking up to the violence slammed his stunned guard into the ground and pushed his foot against the soldiers throat, cutting off his air supply.

As soon as she had dispensed her own guard, Meg turned to look for Castiel's guards, noting how they were reaching for the stunners on their belts and Cracker Jack just standing still looking off into nothing. With a groan she launched herself at them, cracking her skull against that of the first one, having her hands still tied behind her back. That's when out of the corner of her eye Meg saw the last guard panic and reach for his radio.

Before his fumbling fingers could even find the call button, Meg had already roundhouse kicked him across his jaw, sending him sprawling to the floor unconscious with the one blow. The hallway fell silent of the sound of flesh on flesh and all that could be heard were Meg's furious pants.

* * *

It took almost every ounce of self control Dean had to keep the smile on his face and his pace steady as he and Sam walked casually through the crowded hallway. It was damn hard for both of them to not beak out in a run and start pushing everyone out of the way as they sought out their Novaks, but they knew that this had to be handled right if they were ever going to see them again.

Earlier at the ship, the brothers had tossed on some ear mikes as soon as Bobby had found them a route and headed back into the hospital. This time upon entering there was no plan in place and all they had to disguise themselves were their uniforms and the urgency in their posture. Dean tapped the ear piece and muttered out of the corner of his mouth, "Uh, Bobby, we need a little direction here."

Bobby's voice cackled in their ears, "_Alright, after you get to the fork for maternity and natal ward, hang a left. Then when you reach cryo you should see a door."_

Exchanging glances the brothers surged forward through the doors with purpose, perhaps slamming into them with a little more force than necessary, but Dean didn't care. It was a figgin' hospital after all. A little urgency wouldn't be completely out of place.

* * *

It may have only been about two minutes, but to the Winchesters it felt far too long until they reached the doors, "Okay, Bobby. Now what?"

"_Okay, go through that door, and down to green level."_

The door led to an empty stairwell that neither Dean nor Sam felt bad about tearing down so fast that they almost fell flat on their faces a few times as they tripped over their own feet.

Dean muttered the whole way down, "This is _exactly_ what I didn't want. I wanted simple. I wanted in-and-out. I wanted easy money. I wanted to help….fucking Cas," he practically hissed out in pain at the last bit. He shook his head, he couldn't think of what could happen to Cas should they not be able to save their crew today. He couldn't think about what they would do to him, where they would take him….

"Things always seem to get a little more complicated than we plan on lately, don't they?" Sam commented, the strain of emotions making his voice sound thin and hollow.

Dean grunted in agreement, "Just once I'd like things to go according to the gorram plan!"

"_Uh, boys? You might want to pick up the pace and get your keisters going. Something is coming in on the radar."_

Sam tapped his ear piece, "What? What's happened now?" He asked trying his best not to let his emotions make him crumple up in the fear that nestled in his gut.

* * *

"It's me. You two _really_ need to hurry it up," Balthazar shouted over the radio. He had remained behind to watch the ship when he heard the sound of chopper blades breaking through the night on approach to the landing pad where he was parked.

At first Balthazar hadn't been too concerned, it was a hospital after all and there were ships coming in and going out all the time, but then he caught a glimpse of the logo on the side panel as it came closer. His heart leapt into his throat as he recognized the symbol from his nightmares and horrid memories. The Host.

The Host. They were here. They were here for his brothers. They were going to take them back to that house of horrors. He jumped back into the safety of the ship and practically fell into the cockpit as he pulled at his belt frantically for the radio the brothers had left behind and called the channel that Bobby and the brothers were on.

"Bobby? Bobby, please. They're here. The bloody Host is here. What do we do?"

Out the window he saw as the ship touched down. They were out of time.

* * *

Awkwardly Meg lowered herself to the ground as she pried the set of keys off one of the fallen soldiers belts and then set to breaking herself free of the cuffs. She may have appeared calm on the outside, but inside she was going over every second of the last hour, replaying any and all moments that might reveal to the others that she was in on this whole mess.

As it was, she wasn't going to get any money, and she sure as hell wasn't going to get the price off her head. All she had left at this point was going back to the ship and hoping that the others didn't ever find out what she had done. Maybe if she delivered the two Novaks safely back to the crew and their respective Winchesters, no one would care about how the feds got involved.

And maybe if she played it cool, the pilot wouldn't notice either if she was able to blind him with relief at getting him and his brother out of the clutches of the Host. Castiel was another whole thing though…

As gently as she could possibly bring herself to be, she turned the younger Novak around to undo his cuffs, noting that he was still staring off into the air. Then she repeated the same procedure with Gabriel, not daring to look him in the eye.

Both brothers free, she turned to the guards and picked up the first guards gun and then handing the second guards gun to the pilot who took it gingerly, not all too happy to be handling the weapon. Instead of focusing on the weapon in his hand, he turned his attention to Castiel, gently pulling at his little brother's arm to urge him to follow after Meg who had started to lead them down the other hallway.

"Are you sure that way is the best choice?" He prodded, remembering from the schematics that there were at least four armed guards posted down that way.

"We're going this way," she growled.

"I'm not heading back so we can just get scooped up by the feds again!"Gabriel shouted and then turned to see a hallway that led deeper into the hospital. He glanced at Meg and then pulled his brother along with him as he turned them around.

Meg snarled, "You have no idea where that goes! It just leads deeper into this gorram building!"

"We'll find our way, " Gabriel called over his shoulder, not even pausing.

Now starting to realize that she was about to lose her ticket out of Dean's to-kill-list, Meg tore after them and grabbed at Gabriel's shoulder to stop him, "You can't chance getting lost. I can handle the feds," she forced.

"Doesn't matter…."

They turned to Castiel, noting his eyes finally coming back into focus on reality. He looked like he was about to spew.

"What are you talking about," ground out Meg, impatient and nervous to hear what the boy wonder had to say. He started to laugh hysterically.

"Three by three….they found me."

* * *

Damn. When I chose to change, "two by two, hands of blue" to the three by three thing, I didn't think that what I had chosen would sound so friggin' creepy...


	12. Chapter 12

Notes: Hi guys! No time to write a note! Got an exam to study for!

leahelisabeth: I thought in firefly that Jayne showed _some_ change. Not much, but when that kid died for him in jaynestown, I saw some human emotion. But you're right, the limited amount of episodes was not enough for me to feel like there was too much character development. But don't go looking for much change in Meg here. In all her seasons in supernatural, she has always and will always look out for herself XD

ship. me: Sigh, I always had these memories of firefly being a funny show, and then I go through writing these stories and all I can see now is how friggin' tragic it all is. That's why I force myself to write that extra fluffy chapter at the end of each story...to break up the sadness and give our boys some happy times. :( Sigh...I should come up with another fluffy in-between episode like I did with the christmas one...

Disclaimer: All right people! Say it with me! Who owns this? *NOT ME!* That's right! You all get virtual cookies!

* * *

CHAPTER 12

He was so close to his promotion and money reward that he was half way to salivating, his mind solely focused on the prize he had won this day. Finally he would get what he deserved.

Agent McGinnis was startled from his thoughts by one of his minions tapping him on the shoulder, gesturing to the three men who had just walked into the exam room turned temporary fedral HQ, "Hello Gentlemen, that was quite promt. We're almost finished here. The prisoners will be out in a minute. Let me get the paperwork together for you."

None of the three men in front of him even moved, not even the bat of an eyelash at the mention of the prisoners. McGinnis had to admit that the three of them were making him and his men a bit nervous. It wasn't so much their actual appearance, which was each of them in uncomfortably stiff suits, but the aura they put off.

The leader of their little group seemed to be the tall dark skinned man that was half a step in front of the other two who seemed to make the very air around him turn static. Behind him on the left was a man in a less fancy looking suit and a leather coat, dark sunglasses obscuring his eyes. And to the right stood a skinny looking man that had a smile upon his face that would send children screaming off into the night.

All together the three sent shivers down everyone's spines.

Trying to get over his apprehension of their company, McGinnis cleared his throat and quickly shoved the papers at them, "Not that it will mean much. The older Brother and the mercenary shrew were tight lipped, and the younger brother was either catatonic or spewing gibberish. We wrote down all that was overheard anyhow, just for your records."

A small frown appeared on the dark skinned man's face as he stepped forward slightly, "You spoke to the prisoners, you say?" He asked, absent concern sounding in his voice as it rumbled through the room.

The agent swallowed loudly, "Well…yes. We had to process them. Part of procedure…But there was no interrogation if that's what you're wondering," while he was stuttering out his excuses the leader nodded to the skinny man behind him. Upon receiving permission for whatever from his superior, the skinny man stepped forward with a soft laughing hiss.

For whatever reason, McGinnis was feeling more scared now than he ever had in his entire existence, "No interrogation…we-we wouldn't want to do your job for you or anything," he giggled nervously.

"Did your men also speak with them," leader asked slowly, as if to a child.

Upon instinct, as the skinny man moved forward, McGinnis crept back until his back hit the exam table and his movements were haulted, "As…as much as they had to…"he gasped out. Behind him he could hear the feet of his men shuffling nervously.

The leader looked disappointed, "That is a shame. You shouldn't have spoken with them at all, you see. Two of those you caught hold some very special knowledge that we're trying to keep secret. I can't just let you go about your day knowing that you might have overheard something you shouldn't have," he said with mock sadness in his voice.

Skinny man started pet the agents face soothingly.

"W-wait. Please stop. We won't- we won't tell anyone anything. We didn't even hear anything, I swear!"

"I'm sorry, but I just can't trust the word of a human….Alastair?"

A cackle erupted from the skinny man in front of him as his name was called, with a nod at his companions, he opened his mouth and screamed. And screamed….

It felt like his very ear drums were being ripped from his skull, pulling his brains out with them, all melting out from the sides of his head. It didn't stop. Then he felt a trickle of wet from his nose and saw it drip to the floor, blood. That's when McGinnis started to scream himself, but he wasn't even able to hear his own cry of distress over the screech.

All that he could see around him were his men on the floor, clutching at their now bloody ears, mouths open in unheard howls of pain. He thought that maybe he had started to cry, but the red that dropped onto the floor proved that only more blood was emerging, this time from his eyes. Then he tasted copper.

And then he felt nothing.

"That's enough, brother," the leader stated calmly and Alastair cut off his death cry.

"They were lucky that they chose an unused ward for their little club house. I probably would have killed quite a few patients if they were near," Alistair hissed out, perhaps sounding a bit disappointed.

"It's better this way. Less mess to clean up…And speaking of messes, I believe it's about time we go find out dear brothers to bring them home. I'm very eager to see them again."

They all shared a smile.

"Let us go then, brothers."

"yes, Raphael."

* * *

Castiel's little announcement for the arrival of the Host set both of them on frantic adrenaline that had their hearts beating so fast that you could probably seen it pushing against the skin of their chests. The three of them tore down stairwells and pushed through the swinging doors in a chaotic search for a way out. The maps they had memorized before were now distant and fond memories they wished they could still recall.

The pounding of their feet echoed through each empty hallway they encountered, each new path they expected the Host to be standing in their way ready to take them off to their doom.

Then their feet led them down a long corridor that had no other doors or turns in it for a long while, making Gabriel incredibly nervous. Finally they reached the end only to find the door there locked tight.

"Fuck! Of all the times not to have a fucking Winchester to open up a gorram lock!" Meg cursed as she kicked at the handle.

"Can't you just shoot it or something?"Gabriel hissed at her, his fingers digging into Cas' bicep probably leaving bruises.

"Don't you think that noise might draw a little attention, smart ass?!"Meg snarled back at him.

"It was just a fucking suggestion!"

Then out of the blue, Castiel let out a startled noise, "Oh, do you want to go through the door?" he asked confused, gesturing his chin towards the door in question.

The two looked at him incredulously, "Yeah, Cassy. We want to go through the door," Gabriel said slowly but with a little bite of impatience.

His brother nodded his understanding and stepped forward and grabbed the handle, seeming like he was just going to turn it gently, but instead he gripped it tight and ripped the whole lock and handle apparatus out from the door, effectively opening it.

"Let us proceed," he offered and they surged through the door only to be stopped by a gasp from Castiel.

They turned to see his face light up in horrified wonder. He looked up at them and shook his head in disbelief.

"Cassy?"Gabriel tried

"Twinkle toes?" Meg urged impatiently.

Castiel let out a half hysterical chuckle, "Anna's talking to Angels."

Gently he placed the broken bit of the door on the ground and welcomed his companions through the door with a sweep of his arm.

* * *

She had been right in her assumption that she wouldn't even notice the cold hands as her exam was completed, far too distracted with her thoughts manifesting outside of the exam room. Anna had been waiting with bated breath for the last hour for some alarm to go off in the hospital, for security guards to run by her door in a mad rush, to hear cries of distress from her crew…anything, but so far it had been quiet.

As much as she wanted to take this as a comfort, she could not. When it came to the Impala crew, she would expect nothing less than disaster at some point or another. Pure success was overrated in their opinion, it was more of the "where did we go right?" that they all hoped for in the end.

The paper on the exam bed crinkled obnoxiously under her as she shifted uncomfortably and she wondered why doctors hadn't come up with anything better to be placed on the beds yet with all the technology they had.

She only half registered when the hands stopped prodding, "Okay, Ms. Milton. You are all set for this test. You can stretch your legs for a bit if you like. All that's let after this is a quick meeting with the head doctor in charge of your case, and then you can head home."

Only pausing for a rushed, but polite goodbye and thank you, Anna threw on her bathrobe and dashed out the door. She had no idea where she should go, or where to even start looking, but randomly she chose a direction that she guessed might lead her to the diagnostic ward where she saw the brothers and Meg head to.

What in the 'verse had Dean been thinking? What would posses him to let two wanted fugitives dash through a core hospital where there were feds waiting around every corner to take them away? She was mentally planning an outline for her scolding speech for Dean when she walked into the mostly empty diagnostic ward.

She says mostly because there were three men standing there in front of a room marked "3-D Imaging". Holding her breath, she tried to back away slowly as to not be noticed, because for whatever reason her instincts were telling her to avoid these men at all costs.

As if anyone in this crew was so lucky.

"Excuse me, miss. I'd like to have a word with you," the dark skinned one called out to her, his voice gentle in a way, but not leaving any room to argue it as a command.

"I'm sorry, I must have gotten lost," she mumbled out, trying to hold her head high as any Companion would.

A man in dark shades laughed darkly.

"That is quite all right. I was just wondering if you might have seen these people during your…wanderings." He held up a paper with Gabriel's, Castiel's and Balthazar's faces on it.

She schooled her features, "I do not recognize them. Why are they wanted? Are they dangerous?" she asked, trying to change the subject away from her so they would not interpret the concern in her eyes for something else.

He chuckled, "You might say that, but mostly we just want to bring them home. So, if perhaps on your way back to where you should be you run into any of these men, I highly suggest that you call security and do not engage with them. For your own sake as well as theirs."

She nodded sharply and tore down the hallway back to where she came from, all the way trying to think of a way to reach Sam and Dean to tell them that the Host was here, but chances were that Dean already knew that. She only prayed that he would be able to do something about it.

* * *

Dun dun duuuuuuun!


	13. Chapter 13

Notes: Just...just enjoy, my friends.

leahelisabeth: Yay! I'm so happy they came off as super creepy! I really wanted them to be as terrifying as the original hands of blue dudes. XD

ship. me: All I can think of right now is a really awkward sy. patricks day story where everyone is stone cold, blitzed out of their minds drunk...I'm not sure how that would go over XD

Disclaimer: Let me count all the nothings I have...Crap. Since I have nothing, I have no nothings to count, cause I can't count a whole lotta nothing. There's too much nothing and then nothing to count all at once! Ow! My head!

* * *

CHAPTER 12

They could hear the screams and Castiel and Gabriel looked at each other knowingly. Meg might not be able to hear the screech with her all too human ears, but to the brothers it was more than a call for death. It was a summoning by their "brothers", a call to arms and it reverberated through their bones. Both of them stopped their tracks, making Meg pause to consider her companions sudden break.

"What? What is it?" She got nervous enough when the younger one tuned into the universe, but when both of them did it, well if she were a cat her fur would be standing up and her back would be arched.

Castiel merely whimpered and charged on ahead, dragging Gabriel behind him.

"Three by three….they will find me. Three by three…find…me."

All three of them poured through the next doorway as Castiel took the lead, his bare feet clapping the floor loudly. He ran through one seemingly random door to his right and then came up to a large heavy metal door and ran into an empty room that might have once been a storage area. Gabriel and Meg followed closely behind.

"Where the hell is he going?" panted Meg.

Gabriel shook his head, trying to pull in as much air to his lungs as possible, "There…_gasp_…must be some sort of exit this way."

"I don't see an exit here, do you?!"

* * *

"Ooh, I think I'm starting to get a feel for our dear little brother. His glow always had that little tingle of an aftertaste if I remember right. Kinda like peppermint," Alistair tossed over his shoulder to his brothers.

The one with aviators grinned and nodded, "And I'm pretty sure that this was our dear older brother, Gabriel here. I swear I can still smell the chocolate from his breath."

"Well then it would probably explain the four guards on the floor," commented the dark one, it was as close to a joke as he would ever get. The three had come into this hallway, following the trail of their brothers and had come upon several unconscious soldiers. For whatever reason, the mercinary had left the feds alive...

Alistair let a slimy grin slide over his features, "Wouldn't it be a shame, dear Brother, if these feds had accidentally heard something they shouldn't and they were to say something later? Our superior wouldn't very much like that, would he?"

Raphael sighed heavily, "Yes, it would be a shame. Handle that, would you brother?"

Alistair sucked in a breath and wailed.

* * *

"Alright, Cookie Crumble. Now I've got no intention to run around like a rat in a maze until we're dead or caught. Now we are going back until we find a hallway I friggin' recognize or a damned directory!"

She was completely ignored by both of them as the wack job opened up yet another door that led to yet another stairwell, and she watched as the door closed behind them and left her alone in the empty room. Well damn, there goes my ticket out of here…

She tore down after them, cursing under her breath.

* * *

"Almost there….almost there…almost there…"

His younger brother's mantra was like a beacon of hope for Gabriel as they tore along, ignoring hand rails and trying not to fall down. The pilot had absolutely no idea where his brother was headed, but he would trust him to lead them to safety.

"There!"

He had led them to yet another door that Meg cursed when it wouldn't open, "You going to tear open this one too, or what?" She demanded.

He glared back at her, "I only get the door for ladies," he hissed. Truthfully, opening that last door had drained him of his little gathered energy. He was loathe to admit it, but the presence of his 'brothers' in the hospital was serving as an awakening for his recently dormant power and was the only reason he had been able to get that door opened in the first place.

A curl of her lip she turned back to their obstacle, "Fine, just stand back."

"C'mere, Cassy," whispered Gabriel as he gently pulled his brother away from the door.

Promptly Meg whipped out her stolen gun and pointed it at an angle at the door and let out several rounds into the handle. Nothing happened.

"Shee-niou! Fucking high-tech Garrison crap doesn't even know how to take a fucking bullet," (urine shit) she grumbled under her breath and tried her other favorite tactic besides shooting…smashing. She rammed the butt of the gun hard against the handle, not caring about making too much noise anymore. Going by the look of the brothers behind her, the Host was closing in and that did not sit well with her at all.

* * *

"Ooh hoo hoo! I just got another tingle down my spine! We must be getting close! Oh, how I can't wait to see our long lost brothers again," Alistair shivered dramatically to show his sick excitement for his brothers. They both knew that Alistair's excitement had little to do with actually seeing the Novaks, but more to do with his assignment of delivering the proper punishment for abandoning the Host. Raphael curled his lip in distaste. Oh how the older brother hated a mess.

They rounded the next corner and all paused when they heard something in the distance. In sync, the three of them all tilted their heads to the side to listen.

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

Sunglasses smiled, "Oh my, who's do you suppose that is?"

* * *

Sweat was pouring down her face as she continued to ram her shoulder into the door alongside the Pilot who had joined her in the efforts to open the door. They had been frantically throwing themselves at the door for almost a minute now, and they would feel the rattle of their bones with each hit.

Castiel had remained off to the side, his head tilted to the side as if listening for something, totally ignoring the other crew's pleas to help them open the door. For a guy who had just gone into hysterics in fear of being caught, he seemed alarmingly content to just wait beside this door like waiting for an elevator door to open.

On their count of three, Meg and Gabriel ran toward the door again…

* * *

He could feel them better now. One familiar glow ebbing in the little distance, and one with only a few fragments of memory aligned with it, but they were both there. Raphael never smiled, but he definitely felt a tugging at the corners of his mouth at the thought of finally getting his hands on Castiel.

That boy was their future, and they would not lose him again.

* * *

When they were a foot from the door, the two leapped with a great lunch at the closed door and braced for impact…only to find themselves flying through the door and slamming into two semi-solid and warm objects.

Gabriel scrambled off of whatever he had landed on and tried to orient himself, only to come face to face with Sam underneath him smiling in relief, "Um, hey Gabe."

Gabriel couldn't stop the broad smile that fell on his face at the sight of the younger Winchester, "Hey, yourself. Sorry about pouncing on ya. Just couldn't help myself," he kidded, an almost hysterical laugh balanced on his tongue.

Similarly, Meg had thrown herself off of whatever she had landed on only to come face to face with the Captain. Internally she balked, not having had time to mentally prepare her game plan for when she would meet up with Dean later. She wasn't sure if he had any knowledge of what she had done yet.

In a split second she decided to play ignorant and hopped up, grabbing her gun and throwing Dean an annoyed glare, "Took you long enough! Some fucking rescue party!'

"You can grouch all you want later. Right now we have to go. The Host is hot on our tails," urged Gabriel, and the reunited crew ran into the back alley, heading for the back elevator that would take them straight up to the ship where Balthazar was waiting.

* * *

"_The other side of this door…"_ though Alistair giddily. He was practically salivating at this point. He ran the last few feet forward to push open the stairwell door….to open it to an empty room.

Their leader let out a frustrated growl, "Let us go. They are heading upstairs and we have little time to linger."

* * *

Together they dashed out of the elevator and onto the landing pad, the Novaks only slightly balking at the sight of the Host ship parked next to theirs. Not even pausing for a warm moment as the three Novaks were united, Sam and Dean jumped into the cockpit and started up the engines, only to have them airborne twenty seconds later.

Sam took the stick and took them all home.

* * *

Breaking his angelic calm and reserve, Raphael broke into a run once they exited the elevator as he felt the glow of their targets growing further away. The others with him picked up on the urgency and started to run as fast as they could beside him.

The three dove through the doors onto the landing pad only to see a mediship flying away into the distance, carrying the glow of their brothers behind it. They had lost them again.

Raphael let out a monstrous howl that shook the building.

* * *

Bobby had been waiting for word for the last hour, having lost contact with the crew as soon as the Host ship had touched down. He had only been able to deliver the last set of directions to Dean before the Host had scrambled all channels active in the Hospital. He didn't know anything of what had happened to the crew, if they had been caught, if they had escaped, if they were still cornered somewhere in the hospital playing a game of cat and mouse. He felt far too old for all of this worry. These kids would suck any lasting color from his hair in no time.

It was when he was rubbing his hands over his eyes for the hundredth time that night when he heard the proximity alarm go off next to him in the control room. A quick glance at the radar screen had his heart jumping into his throat. It was the mediship.

* * *

A quick call over the radio had Chuck joining the preacher in the cargo bay once the mediship had been let into the hold and the airlock closed behind it. Relief evident in both of their faces, they welcomed back their crew to the Impala.

The newly arrived crew poured out of the ship, weary and equally relieved smiles on their faces. Dean had been too occupied in keeping a lookout from the cockpit that he hadn't had time to search out Cas and see how he was.

Ignoring the words of all others around him, Dean zoned in the Cas as the other man slowly emerged from the back of the ship, looking somewhat dazed. Dean didn't even stop to think before he stepped up to Cas and pulled him into a crushing embrace.

It took Cas a moment to pull his mind away from his dark thoughts of their recent escape and register the fact that Dean was hugging him, holding him tight. Even so, when he finally realized it and was just about to move his own arms to return the embrace, Dean had pulled back a fraction until their faces met and then the Captain dove in and stole his lips in a deep kiss.

The moment of pure bliss only lasted but a second, but he could still feel the imprint of pressure on his mouth, making it tingle pleasantly. Breaking off the kiss, Cas rested his forehead upon Dean's and smiled breathlessly at him.

"We were awake this time," Cas said in awe.

Dean smiled back, "How 'bout that, huh?"

For a second Dean had thought that it was the feel of the moment that had drowned out the rest of the world, making all things around him silent, but quickly he realized that this wasn't the case at all. Really his whole crew had just all quieted as they looked on at the new couple. Sheepishly Dean turned around to see all others staring at them with knowing looks, even Cas had the wits about him to look slightly bashful.

Dean awkwardly rubbed the back of his head, "Hey, uh, Gabriel. Why don't you and Sam go check the radar and make sure we weren't followed. Then check to make sure Anna's shuttle is on the way. I want to get out of here as soon as possible," he tried to sound gruff, but not one single smile fell.

"Won't be a problem, I have arrived," Anna said, announcing herself to the crew. She was mentally congratulating herself for her perfect timing that she got there just at the right moment to see her Captain sweep Castiel off his feet.

Chuck smiled at seeing her, "Oh, hey there, Anna! How was your check-up?"

She gave an exasperated look to the crew, "I suppose it was the same as last year…only I ran into some familiar faces along the way. Does someone want to tell me what was going on at the hospital? The whole story this time, please," she said sweetly.

Thoughtfully Balthazar tapped at his chin, "Oh, let's see…" he counted out on his fingers while breezily talking, "We killed Cassy and Gabe…Stole a bunch of medicine…got nabbed by some feds…almost got nabbed by the Host…Sam and Dean made a daring rescue, and….oh, I do believe Gabriel took some naked pretty pictures of Cassy," Balthazar finished with a flourish of hands and a deep bow.

Gabriel snorted, "Sounds about right. We'll give you the deets later. Sammy and I have got to take us all off world. Should break atmo in ten minutes," he said and the couple walked out of the hold happily, but not before Gabriel passed the thumb drive to the Preacher.

Meg had stayed in the background, trying her best to appear invisible to the rest of the crew as she took off her uniform jacket. She was so wrapped up in trying to appear casual that she jumped a few inches off the ground when Dean came up behind her and slapped her on the shoulder, 'Jeez, Meg. Still a little jumpy are we?" He teased, clearly in a very good mood.

She scoffed softly, "Next time we come to the Core, I'm staying on the ship."

Dean laughed, "Oh, but if you hadn't of come, then you wouldn't be getting your big payday!"

Meg's blood froze. Did he know? Was he messing with her?

The preacher chose that moment to come up with Balthazar who had his arm slung over a shy Castiel. Dean nodded to the thumb drive in his hand, "So, does it look like they got what they needed?"

"It's not like a can plug it into my ass and download it. I'll have to check it out on one of the computers to know for sure, but if he followed my instructions then it should all be there," grouched Bobby.

Hope growing, Dean smiled over at Cas who grinned back, "Hear that, buddy? Maybe we'll find something that will help!"

That's when Balthazar slowly walked up to Meg, "Listen, Meg. I know that you hold no love for my brothers and I, but I want to let you know how grateful I am for what you did," he started.

Meg felt her stomach turn and hoped it didn't show on her face. The Captain could never know what she had done.

Balthazar didn't seem to notice or didn't care about her discomfort, "I would not be standing here with both my brothers safe and by my side if it weren't for you. We will try our very best to not bother you. I…just, well, thank you."

As he said the last part he held out his hand that she hesitantly reached out to grab in a very short lived handshake.

"Yeah, whatever. You're crew and all that crap," she muttered, glancing quickly at Dean as if to emphasize that she was playing nice with the rest of the crew.

Mockingly, Dean sniffed loudly, "Aww, I think I might cry! But enough with the mushy stuff! You've all got jobs to do, so go make yourselves useful." He shooed them all off and headed up the stairs to pause half way and turn back, "Hey, Cas. I was about to go check on Sammy and Gabriel, you wanna come with?"

Surprisingly Cas shook his head to decline the offer, "Perhaps in a moment. I believe I'll help Meg put away the cargo."

Thinking that maybe this was Cas' way to make up for the whole slashing thing, Dean nodded and left the room, leaving Meg alone with Castiel.

Once Dean had left, Cas had turned his attentions to the mercenary, his eyes burning into her accusingly before he tore his gaze away and pulled the first body bag off of the ship. Meg wasn't sure what to make of the situation she found herself in, but in order to appear innocent to the rest of the crew she would have to make nice with the baby Novak again.

Even if she didn't get that big pay off she was expecting, or even her freedom, Meg still would get a decent haul out of this job as her eyes perused the vials in the body bag, "This has got to be the biggest take ever," she muttered quietly to herself.

Castiel seemed to have heard her anyhow, "My brothers had a good plan. Normally I would be concerned as to how they developed such decent criminal minds, but I suppose they have always been on the mischievous side."

She grunted in agreement, slightly hopeful that his talking to her was a good sign that maybe he didn't know what she had done, or maybe he was just too screwy to be able to say it in sane words. She smiled to herself. She might just get away with this after all…

"So what are you buying with your cut? Footy pajamas?"

She never saw it coming. Cas had pounced on her with flying fists and a deep snarl on his face. One good punch to her jaw and Meg was out like a light.

* * *

Ha ha! Next chapter I give you some BAMF Cas! But for now...DESTIEL! YAY! It finally happened! No developing, no hints, it's fracking Destiel! Cheers for the happy couple! Only took me 9 episodes...hear that kripke? Nine!


	14. Chapter 14

Notes: Last Chapter Finally!

ashwingsmokefeather: squee! Thanks so much! :D I'm so happy you liked it! Onward with the Destiel!

leahelisabeth: Last chapter of this one, and tomorrow I will start the long awaited War Stories re-write! I'll try to make it as schmoopy, hurt/comforty, bromancy, destiely, and awesomely as I can!

chaoswalking: *bows deeply and face plants* Thank you so much! *blushing like crazy in class making my friends ask if I'm okay*

Disclaimer: Look! Look at all the fandoms I don't own!

* * *

CHAPTER 13

Meg woke up and she froze in panic as she didn't recognize the ceiling above her at first. For a moment she believed that their daring escape from the hospital had failed and she was actually waking up in a Host cell, but then the familiar rust registered in her brain and she knew that she was still aboard the Impala.

More specifically, she was inside the airlock of the cargo bay, the big door closed in between her and the rest of the ship. A quick glance around her showed that the room was completely empty, no one or anything in sight save for a hand radio on the floor next to her that she picked up and turned over in her hand. What the hell was going on?

She launched to her feet and ran up to the small window in the door between the airlock and the cargo bay, "Hey! What the hell, guys! Let me in!" Suddenly that baby Novak's face appeared in the window, glaring back at her. He held up a matching radio and tapped it to the window between them, indicating that if she wanted to speak, she should use her own radio.

With an impatient growl she flipped her radio on and then Cas' rumbling voice came over the speaker, even more garbled by the static, "Now that all have returned to the Haven, I thought that it was time for us to have words. I decided to choose a neutral territory."

That's when behind her Meg heard the opening of the exterior bay door, and the rushing noise of vacuumed air filled the airlock, whipping Meg's hair across her face and making her clothes slap around her and the heat be sapped from her body.

Even through the roar, Cas' voice boomed damningly over the radio in her hand, "Seems to me that the plan was solid, but then you went and drilled a hole through it and didn't place a caution sigh for your crew. Seems that we almost all fell through. Such a naughty prank. And for what? What were you hoping to gain, Meg?" he asked, looking truly interested.

Damn it, so he had known all along. Damn psychic freaking bastard.

"You're the one with the mind reading trick. You know what I wanted," she hissed over the radio, panic rising in her voice as the air became thin around her.

"Oh, but the first step to recovery is admitting it to _yourself_. I'm afraid you will not grow from this unless you say the truth outloud." he said sadly.

Panic was replaced by rage, "Gorramnit! I called the feds, okay?! Now let me back in, you fruitcake!"

"And what have we learned?" he asked as if to a child.

She stared back at him with hate in her eyes, "You little…"

He lowered the exterior door another inch, "You will be a lot thinner once you get sucked through that hole there, " he said calmly, pointing to the opening door.

"Fuck! Come on, Castiel! This is no way for a girl to die!"

Anger flashed over his features, "Death from betrayal is not a dignified way to die at all, but you should be grateful for death this way as opposed to what they would have done to you should those from the Host have gotten their slimy hands on you. My _freak_ brothers don't take kindly to those who would harm one of their own."

Meg was quickly crumbling back into absolute terror, "Listen, you want to kill me, you better shoot me. Just let me in."

"Did you know that in ancient times on Earth that Was, the punishment for treason was that the traitor would be hanged by the neck, then cut down alive, have his…or her, entrails taken out and burned while she yet lived. Only then did they cut off her head and the body divided into four parts. This way seemed much cleaner than all that. Plus I promised Dean and my brothers that I would never cut you up again," he informed, not even a hint of jest in his features.

Fucking fuck, this guy _was_ crazy and Meg felt true fear when she saw the seriousness of his intentions here, "Listen, Castiel…I'm sorry, all right?"

"Sorry for what, Meg?" he asked innocently.

Biting back another snide remark she answered, grinding her teeth, "The money was too good. I got stupid…and desperate. I thought they would let me go, and I wouldn't have to hide out with the Winchesters for the rest of my life. I didn't mean to get wrapped up in this, I just wanted out," she admitted desperately.

"Oh, but you did get wrapped up in it. You got us _all_ wrapped up in it. You even put Sam and Dean in danger. I am here as guardian of this ship, and if you turn on the crew again, then you have no place in this universe and I will rip you from existence." With that statement he stepped back from the window and placed his hand on the control to the exterior door, Meg watching his movements and knowing that with a twitch of his hand her life would be ended.

She spoke into her radio quietly, "What are you going to tell the others?"

He glanced up from the panel, "About what?"

She swallowed hard, "About why I'm gone. How you killed me?"

Absently he shrugged, "Haven't decided just yet. I just may resign myself to telling them the truth."

She gave him props for his casual attitude. Here she thought that the little bugger would be nervous about taking a life or even have another one of his breakdowns, but here he was surprising her again. She chuckled breathlessly, "Well just don't tell them I went through the fucking airlock. Make up something epic, alright? Like a new superpower you've been keeping secret or something and my body vaporized in a super nova."

A small grin appeared on his features and he turned back to the panel and pressed down on the lever. Meg held her breath and waited for the vacuum to pull her out and to her death…but instead the rushing noise disappeared and the room fell completely silent except for her own breaths.

Dumbfounded she turned to see that the airlock door had been shut and for the moment she was still alive. She twisted her head back to the window where she saw Castiel standing there again, radio raised to his lips.

"Next time you stab one of us in the back…have the guts to do it to their face."

His face left the window as he headed out of the cargo bay, not looking back once. It actually was pretty badass, Meg thought to herself as she watched him head up the stairs, but then she remembered something.

"Wait…uh, can I come in now? Hey! HEY!"

* * *

Dean met Cas in the hallway on his way back to the hold, wondering what had been taking the other man so long. He was about ten scenarios into what Cas and Meg could have done to each other when he bumped right into the object of his thoughts.

"Whoa, there you are Cas. I was beginning to wonder what was keeping you." And praying that you and Meg didn't kill each other, he thought to himself. He gave Cas a once over, quickly cataloging any discrepancies that his eyes could detect. Finding none, he looked back up to meet Cas' blue eyes.

"My apologies for worrying you. I was just…clearing the air," Cas answered, his eyes shyly meeting Dean's.

"Yeah, yeah."

An awkward pause fell between the two of them. Dean wasn't sure what he should say next. Hell, he wasn't even sure if Cas was okay with the whole kiss thing earlier as it even surprised Dean when he had done it. It had been a damn crazy last few days where Dean's mind had been completely consumed by his concern for the other man, and then he had gotten Cas back on his ship, standing there in his hold in one piece…he just wasn't able to hold back and had just surged towards Cas. He didn't want to regret it, but this silence between him was worrisome.

"Dean, are you alright?"

"Yeah! I'm good. Ten fingers, ten toes…I'll check the rest later when I'm alone," he joked and Cas smiled obligingly, "You going to keep that get-up?" Dean asked, gesturing to the scrubs and bathrobe that Cas still wore. For whatever reason, it was kind of bugging Dean to see him dressed like that and not in his normal too big sweater and trench coat. At least Cas' feet were still bare.

Cas glanced down as if only just noticing what he was wearing, "No…no, I do not wish to keep this on any longer. It's too….familiar."

"Okay, let's go get you into something else, huh?" Dean offered and he steered them to the crew quarters, a hand placed at the small of Cas' back.

* * *

Later found Dean and Cas on the floor, leaning against the foot of Cas' bed, both completely relaxed for the moment. When Cas had taken off his shirt to change, Dean had caught the wince on his face as his back twinged, even while he was quite distracted by the smooth play of skin before him. Of course Dean quickly offered to help with one of his quickly improving massages, and the other man readily accepted.

And for the next hour or so, Dean ran his hands all over Cas, savoring the small moments of quiet. The Captain didn't stop his ministrations until his hands began to cramp and Cas was nearly asleep under him. It was a welcome thing for the comfort to come back between the two after the kiss as Dean had worried that he would have messed up the best and only friendship he had ever really had.

Now he sat watching as Cas drew Russian nesting dolls on some old star maps, content to just be here and not anywhere else, even with all the stress and fright that came with having Cas on his ship.

Mid- pencil stroke Cas suddenly called out, "Come in, Gabriel." And after a moment's pause, the hatch opened up to reveal a cocky Gabriel trailed by somewhat sheepish Sheppard.

Dean almost laughed to himself at the unspoken joke. A Pilot and Preacher walk into a room. All they needed was Anna and they had a real winner lined up.

"Heya, you two! Just wanted to be sure I wasn't interrupting anything after Dean's spectacular public display of affection," the pilot teased as he climbed into the room, disappointedly taking note that both of the room's occupants were still fully clothed.

Then he lowered himself next to his brother and peered over his shoulder at what he was doing, "So what are you two up to, Cassy-bear?"

"Drawing," Cas stated slowly, wondering how Gabriel could not have figured that out for himself by the evidence before him.

Bobby leaned over as well, making Cas somewhat self-conscious, "Wow, Cas. That's actually really good."

That's when Cas noticed what was in the preacher's hand, a syringe.

"What are you doing to me now?" He asked nervously. Dean felt more than saw Cas tense up beside him and laid a comforting hand on his knee.

"Relax, Cas. You can trust Bobby. They must have gone over your results and have something that could help you, am I right?" Dean asked pointedly to Bobby, silently demanding the preacher explain.

Heavily, Bobby let out a sigh, "Yeah, that's right. We went over the basic stuff first, blood scans and drug history that was recorded. The more…physical scans we'll go over some more later, but for now we know that Cas here had been given a lot of that muscle relaxer that Balthazar stole, enough for an elephant."

"Shouldn't be too many side effects, Bobby said maybe a headache here or there, cramps, nausea at times…but your back should start to feel better. And we got enough of it from that heist to last us a nice long while!" offered Gabriel encouragingly.

Cas nodded slightly in understanding and looked at the syringe sadly, "Time to go to sleep again," he breathed out, disappointed and afraid. He had so much wanted to spend more time with Dean, perhaps even enjoy more kissing tonight if he had finished his drawing.

Gabriel smiled softly, "No, Di di," he reached down and took his hand, "It's time to wake up." (Little brother)

With a hesistant grin, Cas looked up hopefully, "I'm not going anywhere?"

"Hell no, Cas! You're family now and we're going to take care of you," Dean stated, poking Cas in the chest for emphasis.

"He's right, boy. Family, that dear octopus from whose tentacles we never quite escape, nor, in out innermost hearts, ever quite wish to," chuckled Bobby while he uncapped the syringe and quickly injected it into Cas arm. Thankfully it wasn't going to make the poor boy sleepy. Lord knows that he had enough sleep for a good long while.

After pulling the needle out, Bobby reached for the band-aid that he had brought with him to cover the puncture, only to have his hand stilled by Castiel who smiled up at him, "I won't be needing that, " he stated, and all in the room peered at the crook of his arm to see that the small bead of blood that had welled up after the injection was completely gone.

"You got your mojo back!" Dean said in happiness and surprise.

Cas smiled back, "Indeed. Now if you are done Bobby, I would like for you and Gabriel to leave so that I may finish my drawing and then hopefully have time to exchange saliva with Dean."

The pilot and preacher laughed at the blush that appeared on Dean's face and quickly cleared the room.

Dean sighed and turned his attention back to Cas who had gone back to finishing his drawing, "So, uh…guess this story had a happy ending, huh?"

Cas shrugged and replied, not looking up at Dean when he spoke, "Happy endings all depend on where you stop the story," he paused and glanced at Dean, "but I would say at this very moment, yes. It is a very happy ending. Rapunzel was not returned to her prison in the castle, and of course, the obligatory kiss at the 'end'."

Dean let a boyish grin spread over his handsome features, "Well, if we're going by this _very_ moment being the 'end', then we missed the obligatory kiss by a few hours."

"That is unfortunate. Perhaps we should fix this discrepancy."

Dean leaned closer, "Sounds good to me," he parted his lips…

"Just let me finish this drawing, first"

* * *

Just...cute. I couldn't help myself. And for all of you guys, tomorrow I shall post the first chapter of part X: On the Rack. Check it out!


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